Lingfei Fan
PhD Student
University of Massachusetts Lowell
Lingfei Fan is pursuing her PhD study in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Her current research focuses on groundwater geochemistry and contaminant degradation. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling around with her friends and cooking all kinds of fancy food ranging from Chinese cuisine to western bakery – cooking is the biggest passion in her life.
PRESENTATION TITLE
Sulfur-modified Nanoscale Zero-valent Iron (S-nZVI) for Reductive Dechlorination of Perchloroethene (PCE) and Dichloroethenes (DCEs)
In this study, we investigate the degradation rates of other common chlorinated solvents such as perchloroethene (PCE) and dichloroethenes (DCEs) using sulfur-amended nano-ZVI (S-nZVI). Experiments were conducted in batch reactors and the reaction intermediates and products were analyzed with gas chromatography. The experimental results indicate that, the rates of PCE, cis-DCE, trans-DCE and 1,1-DCE degradation were accelerated by 2 to 10 folds when S-nZVI was used in place of the unmodified nZVI, suggesting the enhancement effect varies with different chlorinated contaminants. Increasing the sulfur dosage (i.e., the S/Fe ratio increasing from 0.0013 to 0.5) has a moderate effect on the reaction rates. Overall, sulfur-modification of nZVI results in improved abiotic dechlorination efficiency of all Chloroethenes, but the positive effects on PCE and DCEs are less significant than that on TCE.