Decontaminate passaic river sediments using ultrasound with ozone nano bubbles

Passaic River facilitated and played a key role in the industrialization of Newark and North East New Jersey. The Passaic River was identifies as the second most polluted river in the United States in 1984. The contaminants in the river included PAHs, PCDD/F, PCBs, DDT and other pesticides and their byproducts and heavy metals including Hg, Cr, Pb and many other. Due to the severity of the contamination USEPA has proposed a remediation plan under the national superfund program, which includes dredging, dewatering and offsite disposal of the lower 12.88 kilometers of the river. Scrutiny of the EPA proposed plan indicated the need to find an alternative method that will decontaminate the soil. This study investigates the development of an in-situ remediation technology using nano ozone bubbles and ultrasound to decontaminate river sediments. The preliminary experimental results showed reasonable PAHs removal efficiencies of contaminated sediments. The data obtained from the laboratory experiments will be used to develop a pilot scale study for possible field application.