An environmentally sustainable development of ultrasound-assisted chemical process: The use of Fenton's reagent and ultrasonic transducers to remove methyl tertiary butyl ether from drinking water supplies

Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) is used as a fuel additive to reduce air pollution. However, the threat to public health from MTBE contaminated groundwater prompted the legislature to ban MTBE. Through the years, numerous methods have been developed to treat MTBE, and many of these advanced treatment processes are complicated and costly. The present research investigates the development of a simple and cost-effective process for the degradation of MTBE.;Chain reactions involving ultrasound and Fenton's reagent are the epitome of this system. Fenton's reagent can be continuously supplied by sonolysis of water and naturally occurring metal salts in groundwater. The laboratory test results have shown complete MTBE degradation under the ultrasound-assisted chemical process (UACP) within one hour. For subsurface operations in the field, ultrasonic transducers attached on the double-wall pipe and horizontal directional drilling technology can greatly increase the effective area of in-situ remediation.;A whistle type in-line mixer installed in a re-circulating flow loop without external electric power was used to create hydrodynamic cavitation and induce oxidation in UACP. Experimental data have shown 13 percent addition to 75 percent degradation of MTBE by Fenton's reagent in five minutes.;The groundwater systems usually only have a water pump and a disinfection process. Once there is a MTBE plume approaching, the only choice for them is to shut down the production wells unless they have enough funding. Equipment wise, UACP only needs chemical pump and ultrasonic transducer. This allows for low cost, easy installation, convenient maintenance, and easy decommissioning. Therefore, UACP with in-line mixer can be used as a drinking water package plant to benefit small water systems in rural communities.;Furthermore, UACP can be placed at the start of a treatment chain to avoid contamination breakthrough, placed at the end of a treatment chain as a polishing step, or added to the distribution systems to solve disinfection by-product problem.