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Removal of VOC's from Water
The EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL) has maintained an active in-house pervaporation research program for over eight years. Early work dealt with the removal of multiple volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from water using existing and novel membrane materials. Today, the EPA continues to develop and evaluate new membranes for pervaporation of organic compounds that aid in recovery and reuse of those compounds. The focus of this work has been on membranes with superior separation properties and resistance to extreme environments, such as ceramic-supported polymeric membranes.
In 1995, research was initiated to determine if VOCs could be recovered from surfactant solutions. The initial focus of this work was surfactant solutions generated during a surfactant enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) project where surfactants are used to solubilize organic contaminants in soils/aquifers. SEAR researchers have found that efficient surfactant recycle is essential for the cost effectiveness of this soil remediation technology. Unfortunately, serious foaming problems result when conventional technologies, such as vacuum stripping and air stripping, are used to remove VOCs from surfactant solutions. Since a non-porous membrane separates the liquid and vapor streams in pervaporation, no foam should be generated.
Through bench and pilot scale experiments, the EPA demonstrated that VOCs such as trichloroethane and toluene could be removed from a surrogate anionic surfactant solution with no deterioration in performance over several months. In 1996, 5000 gallons of a SEAR solution from Hill Air Force Base was processed at the EPA's Test & Evaluation Facility. The VOC removal performance with the actual SEAR solution was comparable to that with the laboratory prepared surrogate solutions. In order to address concerns with membrane module fouling, the EPA has evaluated a variety of standard pervaporation module configurations.
Contact Information:
Primary Investigators:Dr. Leland Vane
(513) 569-7799
vane.leland@epa.gov>
Fax: (513) 569-7677
Postal Address:
26 West Martin Luther King Drive
Mail Stop 443
Cincinnati, Ohio 45268