Waste green sands as reactive media for groundwater contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE)

Waste green sands are byproducts of the gray iron foundry industry that consist of sand, binding agents, organic carbon, and residual iron particles. Because of their potential sorptive and reactive properties, tests were conducted to determine the feasibility of using waste green sands as a low cost reactive medium for groundwater treatment. Batch and column tests were conducted to determine the reactivity, sorptive characteristics, and transport parameters for trichloroethylene (TCE) solutions in contact with green sands. Normalized rate constants for TCE degradation in the presence of iron particles extracted from green sands were found to be comparable to those for Peerless iron, a common medium used to treat groundwater. Rate constants and partition coefficients obtained from the batch tests were found to be comparable to those from the column tests. Analytical modeling shows that reactive barriers containing green sand potentially can be used to treat contaminated groundwater containing TCE at typical concentrations observed in the field.