New Nuclear Power and Climate Change: Issues and Opportunities Student Presentation Ashish K Sahu and Sarina J. Ergas University of Massachusetts - Amherst

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Perchlorate Reduction in a Packed Bed Bioreactor Using Elemental Sulfur Ashish K Sahu and Sarina J. Ergas

3 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Background  Perchlorate (ClO 4 - ) Stable Non reactive  Trace levels of Perchlorate Disruption of hormone uptake in thyroid glands

4 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Geographic Contamination  No National Standards  MCL set by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (2 g/L)  California advisory levels (6 g/L)  Other states (NY, NV, AZ, CO, TX) 18 g/L Ref: ewg.org

5 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Sources of Perchlorate  Natural Atmospheric Sources Chilean nitrate fertilizer  Anthropogenic Missiles, Rockets Fireworks Leather Tannery Industries Fertilizers

6 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering  Physical Processes  Chemical Processes  Biological Processes  Combination of the above Treatment Processes

7 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Perchlorate Treatment Processes PhysicalDestructive Process Chemical Biological GAC RO/NF Electrodialysis CC-ISEP Bioreactors Hybrid Technologies Bio-remediation Phytoremediation IX Others Others (MBR) CSTR PFR Reducing metals

8 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Outline  Biological Perchlorate Reduction  Use of Elemental Sulfur  Experimental Protocol  Results  Conclusions

9 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Biological Perchlorate Reduction Principle: Microorganisms convert perchlorate to chloride Heterotrophic microorganisms  Use organic carbon as their carbon source  Electron donors are methanol, lactate, ethanol, wastewater Autotrophic microorganisms  Use inorganic carbon as their carbon source eg: NaHCO 3  Electron donors are S, Fe 0, H 2

10 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Use of Elemental Sulfur 2.87 S H 2 O + ClO CO HCO NH 4 + → 5.69 H SO Cl C 5 H 7 O 2 N  Electron Donor: Elemental Sulfur  Electron Acceptor: Perchlorate  Carbon Source: Bi-carbonate  Low biomass production  Low nutrient requirements  Anoxic conditions  Alkalinity destroyed

11 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Advantages of Elemental Sulfur  Waste byproduct of oil refineries  Excellent packing media  Relatively inexpensive and easily available  Applications in packed bed reactors and permeable reactive barriers

12 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Objectives Enrich a culture of Sulfur Utilizing Perchlorate Reducing Bacteria (SUPeRB) Investigate the use of packed bed bioreactors to treat perchlorate contaminated waters by SUPeRB Test the bioreactor for varying operating conditions

13 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Batch Culture Enrichments  Denitrification zone of Berkshire wastewater treatment plant, Lanesboro, MA  5mg/L ClO 4 -, S o and oyster shell, nutrients in groundwater  Analytical Techniques pH ClO 4 - concentration using IC (EPA method 314.0)

14 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Batch Culture Enrichment (SUPeRB)

15 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Packed Bed Reactor  Reactor inoculated with SUPeRB  Media: Elemental Sulfur pellets (4 mm), oyster shell (3:1 v/v)  Volume: 1 liter  Ports: 5 ports

16 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Packed Bed Reactor Operation Experimental Phase Perchlorate concentration mg/L EBCT hrs Recirculation Ratio Q R /Q S o particle size Phase I Intermittent at (40-1,500) 4 mm Phase II Reactor ,0004 mm Reactor NO 3 - -N (10 mg/L) 8-30None4 mm Reactor None0.85 mm

17 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Bioreactor Performance-Phase II (Effect of Empty Bed Contact Time (hrs))

18 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Bioreactor Performance-Phase II (Effect of Empty Bed Contact Time)

19 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Bioreactor Performance-Phase II (Effect of sulfur size particles)

20 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Bioreactor Performance-Phase II (Effect of Nitrate on Perchlorate Removal)

21 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Summary  SUPeRB reduced ClO 4 - from 5 mg/L to <0.5 mg/L in 15 days using S 0 and OS  High levels of perchlorate (5-8 mg/L) were successfully reduced to < 0.5 mg/L in the bioreactor at an EBCT of 13 hours  Low levels of perchlorate ( g/L) were reduced to < 4 g/L at an EBCT of 8 hours

22 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Summary…  Presence of nitrate did not inhibit perchlorate reduction  Perchlorate reduction was somewhat independent of media particle size

23 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Applications and Future Work  Pilot scale of system for perchlorate remediation  Ex-situ remediation  In-situ remediation by Permeable Reactive Barriers (PRBs)

24 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Acknowledgements  Water Resources Research Center (WRRC), TEI at UMass-Amherst  Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center (MTTC) for commercial potential  Advisor: Dr. Sarina Ergas  Teresa Conneely, Department of Microbiology for FISH and microbiology analysis  Tach Chu and Charlie Moe (High School) for culture and bioreactor maintenance

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Thank you for your kind attention SUPeRB is SUPERB!!!