Groundwater remediation by permeable adsorbing barriers to capture hexavalent chrome plume

This work concerns the protection of hexavalent chrome contaminated ground water by adsorption onto a commercially available activated carbon (the Aquacarb 207EA™ produced by Sutcliffe Carbon). An adsorption model based on the multi-component Langmuir approach has been employed to account for adsorption phenomena. A two dimensional case study of a permeable adsorbing barrier (PAB) made of granular activated carbon, designed for the protection of a shallow aquifer from Cr(VI) leaching from the topsoil during rainfall infiltration is numerically solved and presented. Results show that a properly designed PAB is capable to protect the aquifer from intense concentration peaks originated by heavy rainfall events. Furthermore, simulation results show how Cr(VI) is desorbed during dry periods, when clean water crosses the PAB, without releasing dangerous concentrations in the aquifer.