• Removal of Nitrate in Groundwater Using Passive Treatment Systems: Evaluation of Removal Efficiency Through a Long-Term Column Experiment

  • Hye Na Ko1·Jiyoung Kang2·Sung-Wook Jeen2,3*

  • 1School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Seoul National University
    2Department of Environment and Energy, Jeonbuk National University
    3Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Jeonbuk National University

  • 수동적 처리 시스템을 이용한 지하수 내 질산염 제거: 장기 칼럼 실험을 통한 제거 효율 평가

  • 고혜나1·강지영2·진성욱2,3*

  • 1서울대학교 지구환경과학부
    2전북대학교 환경에너지융합학과
    3전북대학교 지구환경과학과

  • This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Nitrate in groundwater can be transported to surface water, which can exacerbate eutrophication of surface water. Therefore, it is necessary to treat nitrate not only in surface water but also in groundwater. In this study, we evaluated the long-term efficiency of passive treatment systems, such as permeable reactive barriers (PRBs), for nitrate removal. A laboratory column experiment using wood chips as a reactive material for bacterial denitrification was conducted for about 5 years, and the rate of nitrate removal over time was evaluated. The results showed that initially the average removal rate of 0.86 mmol L-1 day-1 (±0.18 mmol L-1 day-1) was maintained for the first 6 months. The removal rate gradually decreased over time, probably due to the consumption of carbon source in the column. However, even after 5 years, the removal rate was comparable to those of previous studies, with the average rate of 0.41 mmol L-1 day-1 (±0.12 mmol L-1 day-1) for the remainder of the experimental period. This study shows that a passive treatment system using wood chips can be effectively operated for a long time to remove nitrate in groundwater.


Keywords: Nitrate, Permeable reactive barrier, Denitrification, Carbon source, Removal rate

This Article

  • 2021; 26(2): 17-27

    Published on Apr 30, 2021

  • 10.7857/JSGE.2021.26.2.017
  • Received on Feb 26, 2021
  • Revised on Mar 12, 2021
  • Accepted on Mar 29, 2021

Correspondence to

  • Sung-Wook Jeen

  • 2Department of Environment and Energy, Jeonbuk National University
    3Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Jeonbuk National University

  • E-mail: sjeen@jbnu.ac.kr