9407724 Gurol This is an award to support research on a potential water treatment process using hydrogen peroxide in the presence of iron oxide catalysts to oxidize organic substances of hazardous significance that may be present in water or produced during its disinfection by use of chlorine. The research involves determination of the mechanisms and rates of oxidation of the target compounds, trichloroethylene and monochlorobenzene in continuous flow and in batch processing modes of operating slurry reactors in which the reactions take place. A conceptual model of the process will be experimentally evaluated for its predictive capability. The investigator also plans on exploring the potential use of the concept in a filtration process where the iron catalyst is present as a coating on the water filter media. Presence of organic substances in surface and groundwaters may result in the production of potentially hazardous compounds when chlorine is used to disinfect the water. The research being conducted in this project is expected to result in determination of parameters for use in engineering design of water treatment processes to destroy these compounds. Results may also be applicable in engineering design of systems for remediation of groundwater that has been contaminated by chlorinated organic compounds. ***
