Transport and retention of high concentrated nano-Fe/Cu particles through highly flow-rated packed sand column

The design of an efficient field-scale remediation based on the use of nanoscale zero valent iron (NZVI) requires an accurate assessment of the mobility of such particles in saturated porous media, both during injection in the subsurface (short-term mobility) and later (long-term mobility). In this study, the mobility of highly concentrated dispersions of bimetallic Fe/Cu nanoparticles (d50 = 70 ± 5 nm) in sand-packed columns (0.5 m length and 0.025 m inner diameter) was studied. In particular, the influence of flow rate (V = 5 × 10−4, 1 × 10−3, 2 × 10−3 m/s) and injected particle concentrations (2, 5, 8, 12 g/l) was addressed. Breakthrough curves and water pressure drop along the column, averaged effective porosity and final distribution of retained particles along the column were measured. Experimental results evidenced a good mobility of the Fe/Cu particles, with significant breakthrough in all explored experimental conditions of flow rate and C0, without requiring the addition of any stabilizing agent. Clogging phenomenon of the column and also the pore pressure variation during injection period are strongly affected by injected concentration. Clogging due to deposition of particles following a ripening dynamics was observed in particular for C0 = 8 and 12 g/l. The experimental data were modeled using the E-MNM1D software. The study has implications for field injection of bimetallic nanoparticles, suggesting that particular care is to be devoted when selecting injection concentration, to avoid porous medium clogging and control the radius of influence.

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► Nano-Fe/Cu particles easily transport in the sand medium without significant retention.
► Clogging phenomenon follows a ripening dynamics and is affected by injected concentration.
► Flow rate had a minor impact on the clogging phenomenon of the porous medium.
► EMNM1D code is able to simulate the transport mechanism of Fe/Cu particles.
► Injection concentration of the particles controls the radius of influence.