Greenville, Wisconsin Iron, Manganese, and Radium Removal
Project: Iron, manganese, and radium removal
Municipality: Town of Greenville, WI
Engineer: CBS Squared Inc.
WaterSurplus Contact: Jim Groose, S. VP Business Development
Problem: The Town of Greenville had arsenic in their water that required treatment when the regulated arsenic limit was lowered to 10 µg/L. The Town of Greenville applied for and was granted funding through the US-EPA demonstration site program. Prior to the water treatment plant installation, well modifications lowered the arsenic but resulted in higher radium than the 5 pCi/L combined Ra226 + Ra228 limit. They fed Hydrous Manganese Oxide (HMO) for radium adsorption and filtration and oxidized the 1.2 mg/L of iron (Fe) to remove it. Run times were only an hour or two before backwash was required, making the yield from the treatment process very poor, at around 50%.
Our Solution: A pilot was scheduled to test a high loading rate catalytic filter design using our proprietary filter media, OxiPlus75. Run times over 12 hours of operation at a loading rate of 6 GPM/ft2 were successfully demonstrated. A four (4) vessel, 54” diameter, pre-piped, prewired, and skid-mounted system was installed in June of 2017. Run times of 12-14 hours before backwash were achieved (a >95% yield). The pretreated water went from having 1.2 mg/L Fe to about 0.02 mg/L Fe- > 98% removal efficiency was achieved. Chlorination prior to the catalytic filter allows the catalytic properties of the OxiPlus75 to oxidize any iron, manganese, and/or hydrogen sulfide prior to completion of filtration. Learn more about piloting OxiPlus75 here.
