Fastläggning av arsenik med nollvärt järn i mikrostorlek : Uppföljning av ett pilotskaleförsök

Sammanfattning: Land contaminated with arsenic is a major problem as arsenic is toxic and poses a major health risk to both humans and animals. There are several remediation methods, both in-situ and ex-situ, to prevent and deal with pollution problems in different ways. In Hjältevad, Eksjö municipality, a leak occurred in an impregnation tank in 1968, in a facility belonging to atelephone company. As a result, the groundwater was contaminated with chromium, copper andarsenic and despite several major remediation measures, arsenic concentrations are still highand new measures are required, of which this study is a part.Previous laboratory tests with soil samples from Hjätevad, both batch and then column tests,showed that zero-valent iron particles (ZVI) in nano and micro-scale proved to be most effectiveunder given conditions to immobilize arsenic. In the present study results from a pilot scaleexperiment with micro-scale ZVI (mZVI) are presented. Before the pilot scale experiment,dynamic groundwater sampling was carried out in Hjältevad, to characterize the aquifer. Also,initial distribution tests with mZVI were conducted. Trial injections were carried out with a slurryof water, mZVI and guar. The latter was added to increased viscosity. The distribution of mZVIwas followed up with measurements of e.g., conductivity and imaging with OPI-VIS. The spreadof mZVI ranged between 0.5–1.5 meters.In the pilot scale experiment, five injection points were used 2 meters apart from each other andsix new groundwater wells were installed after the injection to monitor the effect of mZVI ongroundwater chemistry. Injections were made at 11 different depths in 0.5-meter intervals. Forfour months, measurements of different groundwater parameters were conducted. Smallreductions in arsenic levels were found in two groundwater wells downstream from the injectionpoints, but no reduction in the remaining wells.One reason for the small effect on arsenic concentration could be slow kinetics of the reactionbetween mZVI and water, due to low groundwater temperatures (7–8 °C). Another reason couldbe that the mZVI was not dispersed well enough in the soil due to either the aggregation ofmZVI particles or the heterogeneity of the soil.