Groundwater Remediation For Drinking Applications
Uranium
Radioactive forms of Uranium are naturally occurring elements of the Earth and are present in every substance and material on the planet including drinking water sources i.e. groundwater.
Human health concerns of radioactive uranium are two parts: the radiation of alpha particles increases risk of cancer if ingested; the uranium chemical itself is poisonous exhibiting kidney toxicity. The EPA has established MCL of 30 ppb.
Anion exchange resin can effectively remove uranium from water, however its capacity drops significantly in feed water having a high sulfate concentration. We had worked with our partner to investigate our high-selective SBA under a high TDS and high sulfate water at City of Grand Island, Nebraska.
The Study Report
Set up & Protocol
A 1.5-inch id column loaded with 0.39 liter of Captymer® uranium-selective SBA. The flow rate of the test water is 0.12 GPM per minute for a 1.2 minute EBCT. The calculated bulk hydraulic loading rate is 8.7 GPM per cu. ft equivalent. The column was fed with the contaminated groundwater from one of the wells containing in average of 30 ppb of uranium. The most notable other contaminates include in average of 225 ppm of sulfate, TDS 600 ppm and pH 7.5-8.0. The tests were carried out for 3 months.
Result
The uranium-selective Captymer® resin removed uranium effectively close to an equivalent 130,000 BV throughput. It was noted by our partner on this test that "Here the Captymer® resin appears to have demonstrated much higher capacity for uranium removal than all previous medias we have tested on this water source". A detail study report is available.