Evaluation of a UV/Ozone Treatment Process for Removal of MTBE in Groundwater Supplies in New Mexico

摘要

EPA’s Office of Research and Development is funding pilot-scale studies on MTBEcontaminated groundwater using UV/ozone treatment technology (254 nm UV, 5.8 mg/Lozone). The pilot-scale treatment system consists of a GW well pump, a feed tank, apretreatment system (water softener with iron reduction), a low-pressure UV/ozonetreatment system, and GAC post treatment. Treatability studies have been conductedby graduate students at New Mexico State University to determine the effectiveness ofUV/ozone treatment on well water contaminated by underground plumes of MTBE andother volatile organic compounds.NMSU found UV/ozone treatment to be highly effective for removing MTBE and MTBEbyproducts in groundwater. The MTBE concentrations after treatment were significantlylower (0.4-7.7 μg/L) as compared to the initial influent concentrations (127-251 μg/L).However, acetone was formed during oxidation of MTBE. Future field studies areplanned to investigate the impact of enhanced ozone/medium-pressure UV on MTBEand MTBE byproduct removal and alternative technologies for acetone removal.