IRONPEAT - Decontamination of polluted groundwaters using peat activated with iron compounds

Purpose and goal

The project consortium aimed at developing a technology and equipment for production of new filtering material for removal of complex mixtures of contaminants (organics and heavy metals) from solutions by smartly combining two today used technologies: production of a peat granulate-based sorbent and an iron hydrozol (FFH). This aim was achieved. The project goal was to meet the market´s needs for cost-effective and well-functioning filtration material for finishing contaminated process and groundwater.

Expected results and effects

The project results indicate that the existing equipment used to manufacture the base of the new product can be modified and adapted for the full-scale production of the IronPeat sorbent. Sorbent has shown a high level of chemical-mechanical stability and an ability to simultaneously filter out impurities with different chemical properties (i.e. positive and negatively charged ions).

Planned approach and implementation

The project was carried out in a close collaboration between industrial partner Geogen Produktion AB and researchers at Waste Science and Technology at Luleå University of Technology (LTU). Development work was carried out at LTU, while pilot experiments on the large-scale IronPeat production were carried out in the Geogens factory. The product was tested in field at a contaminated area as a reactive barrier and further need of research and development was identified based on evaluation of all steps of the process.