Funnel and radiation: a new technique for groundwater remediation

For the remediation of the groundwater of the former gas plant site of the city of Karlsruhe, which is contaminated with Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), a funnel-and-gate system was designed. In addition to the primary contamination with PAHs from the site itself a secondary contamination with vinylchloride (VC) is present in the aquifer as a result of a plume of degraded volatile organic compounds (VOCs) transported into the contaminated area from outside. For the removal of the contaminants an advanced novel technique consisting of an in-situ-UV-radiation in combination with adsorption on activated carbon was used. In this paper the first results of the experiments of the application of pilot scale equipment for the in-situ-UV-radiation for the oxidation of PAHs and VC are presented.