Evaluation of an Innovative Technology for Treatment of Water Contaminated with Perchlorate and Organic Compounds

Drinking water sources contaminated with both perchlorate and organic compounds have frequently been found in the U.S. Tailored granular activated carbon (T-GAC) is an innovative technology that is being evaluated to determine if it can more cost effectively remove perchlorate than conventional technologies. A question that has been raised is whether T-GAC can economically treat perchlorate-contaminated water that also has organic co-contaminants present. During a field study, trichloroethylene, an organic compound, and perchlorate were successfully removed by adsorption using a T-GAC/GAC system. These results motivated development of a model that could be applied to predict the cost and performance of a TGAC/ GAC system to treat water with perchlorate and organic co-contaminants. Correlations developed to predict organic compound adsorption onto GAC were incorporated into a T-GAC/GAC system performance model. These predictions were then used as input to a technology cost model. The predicted T-GAC/GAC system costs were similar to actual costs of conventional technologies that are being used to treat perchlorate and organic contaminated waters at a number of sites. Due to other advantages of the technology (e.g., ease of implementation) it appears the T-GAC/GAC technology has the potential to cost effectively treat water contaminated by perchlorate and organic compounds.