Packed Tower Air Stripping of Trichloroethylene from Dilute Aqueous Solution.

Air stripping is among the technologies being considered by the Air Force for TCE removal from contaminated groundwaters. The most promising stripper configuration is that of the countercurrent flow, packed column. This study was undertaken to model the performance of such a stripping reactor applied to TCE removal. Equations are presented which related efficiency to packed volume, air and liquid flows, gasliquid partition coefficient Henrys constant, H and overall mass transfer coefficient KLa. A major objective of this study was to quantify the effect of temperature and ionic strength on H, and of temperature, air flow and liquid flow on KLa. Henrys constant was measured by an equilibrium, mixed batch reactor technique, over a temperature range from 10 to 30 C, and a range of ionic strengths from 0 to 1 Molar Potassium Chloride. The effect of temperature was of practical significance the effect of ionic strength was not. KLa was determined for 58 - inch 1.59 cm plastic Pall rings over a range of temperature from 10 to 30 C. The effect was significant, and equations are presented for calculating the dependency. Air and liquid flow velocity did not affect KLa over the range examined. Author