Potential of Riverbank filtration to remove explosive chemicals

Chittaranjan Ray, Weixi Zheng, Matteo D'Alessio, Joseph Lichwa, Rico Bartak

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Riverbank filtration (RBF) is a low-cost and efficient water treatment technology for the removal of many surface water pollutants. It is widely used by water utilities in developed as well as developing countries to produce drinking water from surface water which is often polluted. In this research, the presence of explosive chemicals in riverbed sediments or in flowing water is considered as a potential threat to the quality of filtrate produced from RBF systems. For this, degradation experiments were conducted to examine the persistence of these compounds in river sediments. In addition, a model RBF system was setup to examine the breakthrough of the major explosive chemicals and their metabolites. Results show that HMX was the most mobile and compound followed by RDX. TNT and DNT degraded quickly. Thus, the presence of RDX and HMX could produce breakthroughs in high capacity collector wells located along riverbanks.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationRiverbank Filtration for Water Security in Desert Countries
EditorsChittaranjan Ray, Mohamed Shamrukh
Pages129-135
Number of pages7
DOIs
StatePublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes

Publication series

NameNATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security
Volume103
ISSN (Print)1874-6519

Keywords

  • RDX
  • Riverbank filtration
  • TNT
  • explosive chemicals

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Environmental Science

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