Are Single-Use Media Created Equal? A Pilot Study of Radium Removal from Groundwater Comparing Three Different Media

摘要

A pilot study was developed to evaluate the performance of two iron pretreatment options and three single-use media (Dowex RSC resin, Resintech RSM-50HP resin, and WRT Z-88 enhanced zeolite) for radium removal to meet the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's (TCEQ) treated water quality requirements. In general, good overall performance of the single-use media were achieved. The pretreatment method for the media appeared to have little impact on the radium removal capacity of each media. For the RSC, RSM-50 HP, and Z-88, throughputs of up to 40,000 (EBCT: 1.5 and 3min.), 13,000 (EBCT: 1.5 and 3min.), and 19,000 (EBCT: 6min.) bed volumes, respectively, were achieved before exceeding the TCEQ MCL of 5 pCi/L for combined radium in the treated water. Combined radium was the limiting water quality parameter in the treated water for change-out of each media. As expected, the capital and O&M costs for each media was related to their respective combined radium capacities.