In situ precipitation technique for cleaner groundwater

摘要

Non-ferrous metal production and use is responsible for much soil contamination in Europe. Often, this has led to groundwater pollution by metals such as zinc, cadmium, cobalt and nickel A cost-effective and ecological clean up of contaminated sites is important to protect groundwater and receiving river basins, thus ensuring implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The best available technique for cleaning groundwater contaminated with these metals has been to pump and treat it in a wastewater treatment plant But this process, known as 'pump and treat', is expensive and often fails to meet environmental standards. It also adversely impacts on the local groundwater balance, and the process involves the use of hazardous chemicals and produces metal-containing waste sludge.