A EPA
United States	EPA/540/S5-89/012
Environmental Protection	May 1990
Agency
E.



SUPERFUND INNOVATIVE
TECHNOLOGY EVALUATION

Technology Demonstration
Summary
Ultrox International Ultraviolet
Radiation/Oxidation Technology
San Jose, California
The Ultrox International SITE
Demonstration assessed the use of
ultraviolet (UV) radiation and oxidants
to treat contaminated groundwater.
The Ultrox* technology (a registered
trademark of Ultrox International)
uses a combination of UV radiation,
ozone, and hydrogen peroxide to
oxidize organic compounds in water.
The demonstration took place at a
former drum recycling site in San
Jose, California, where soil and
groundwater are contaminated with
organic chemicals and heavy metals.
The demonstration program
evaluated the Ultrox technology in
removing volatile organic compounds
(VOC) from the groundwater at the
site under various operating
conditions. During the demonstration,
hydraulic retention times, oxidant
doses and ratios, UV radiation
intensities, and influent pH levels
were adjusted to evaluate the system
under various operating conditions.
Extensive sampling and analyses
were performed as part of the
demonstration program. Results
indicate that after treatment with the
Ultrox system, contaminated
groundwater complied with
regulatory requirements. In addition,
the Ultrox system effectively
destroyed ozone and volatile
organics in the reactor off-gas.
This Summary was developed by
EPA's Risk Reduction Engineering
Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, to
announce the key findings of this SITE
Demonstration. These findings are
fully documented in two separate
reports (see ordering information at
back).
Introduction
In response to the Superfund
Amendments and Reauthorization Act of
1986 (SARA), EPA's Office of Solid
Waste and Emergency Response
(OSWER) and Office of Research and
Development (ORD) have established a
formal program to accelerate the
development, demonstration, and use of
alternative or innovative technologies that
offer permanent, long-term cleanup
solutions for hazardous wastes. This
program is called the Superfund
Innovative Technology Evaluation, or
SITE.
The overall goal of the SITE Program is
to "carry out a program of research,
evaluation, testing, development and
demonstration of alternative or innovative

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treatment technologies. . .which may be
utilized in response actions to achieve
more permanent protection of human
health and welfare and the environment."
Specifically, the program's goal is to
maximize the use of alternatives to land
disposal in cleaning up Superfund sites
by encouraging the development and
demonstration of new treatment and
monitoring technologies.
One of the most important aspects of
the SITE Program is the Demonstration
Program, which evaluates field- or pilot-
scale technologies that can be scaled up
for commercial use. The Demonstration
Program is the primary focus of the SITE
Program because the technologies
evaluated are close to being available for
remediation of Superfund sites. The main
objective of the Demonstration Program
is to develop extensive performance
engineering and cost information for new
technologies. With this information,
potential users can make informed
decisions on whether to use these
technologies to remediate hazardous
waste sites. Specifically, potential users
can use this information to compare the
technology's effectiveness and cost to
other alternatives and make sound
judgments regarding applicability of the
technology for a specific site.
The Ultrox technology's ability to
remediate contamination at the Lorentz
Barrel and Drum (LB&D) site in San Jose,
California, was evaluated by EPA Region
IX through a treatability study that was
conducted as part of the engineering
evaluation/cost analysis of remedial
alternatives. The primary purpose of the
treatability study, which was performed
according to specifications developed by
the Region, was to demonstrate if the
Ultrox technology could successfully treat
the contaminated groundwater at the
LB&D site. Based on the promising
results of the treatability study, as well as
the Region's desire to gain additional
data to complete its decision-making for
the Phase I remediation of groundwater
at the site, Ultrox International was
accepted into the SITE Program and put
on an accelerated schedule.
In addition to meeting the general
objectives of the SITE Program during
the Ultrox technology demonstration, the
following specific goals were identified to
serve the needs of both the SITE
Program and Region IX:
• Demonstrate the ability of the Ultrox
system to treat VOCs present in the
groundwater at the LB&D site
•	Evaluate the efficiency of the ozone
decomposer (Decompozon) unit in
treating ozone in the reactor off-gas
•	Develop capital and operating costs
for the Ultrox system that can be
used in Superfund decision-making
processes at other sites
•	Develop information useful to Region
IX for site remediation
A SITE Demonstration Plan was
developed that details all the sampling
and analyses performed during the field
demonstration. The report specifies the
various operating parameters under
which the Ultrox system operated, the
procedures and frequencies for collecting
air and water samples, the procedures for
field and laboratory analyses, and the
health and safety measures required for
field personnel.
Two reports document the field
demonstration. The Technology
Evaluation Report describes the field
activities, laboratory results, and
deviations from the Demonstration Plan.
This report also presents conclusions,
recommendations, and cost data for
conducting the demonstration. The
Applications Analysis Report evaluates
available information on the technology
and its applicability to other sites with
other waste types and site charac-
teristics. Cost data for other applications
are also presented.
Process Description
Ultrox International of Santa Ana,
California, developed a process which
uses combinations of UV radiation,
ozone, and hydrogen peroxide to oxidize
organic compounds in water. Based on
results from operating units, the
developer claims that the treatment
system is best suited for destroying
dissolved organic contaminants, including
chlorinated hydrocarbons and aromatic
compounds, which are present in
wastewater or groundwater with low
levels of suspended solids. The treatment
system, which was delivered on four
skid-mounted modules, included the
following major components:
•	UV radiation/oxidation reactor
module
•	Ozone generator module
•	Hydrogen peroxide feed system
•	Catalytic ozone decomposer unit for
treating reactor off-gas
The commercial-size reactor used for
the demonstration is 3 feet long by 1.5
feet wide by 5.5 feet high. The reactor is
divided by five vertical baffles into six
chambers. Each chamber contains four
UV lamps as well as a diffuser which
uniformly bubbles and distributes ozone
gas into the groundwater being treated.
Procedures
Prior to treatment, approximately
13,000 gallons of contaminated
groundwater from the site were pumped,
collected, and stored in 2 flexible,
bladder tanks. The bladder tanks were
selected specifically to minimize losses
of VOCs during the test period.
During the 2-week demonstration
program, five operating parameters were
adjusted to evaluate the Ultrox system:
hydraulic retention time, ozone dose,
hydrogen peroxide dose, UV radiation
intensity, and influent pH level. A total of
13 test runs was conducted during the
demonstration. The operating parameters
were varied during the first 11 tests. The
last 2 runs were conducted to verify the
reproducibility of the system's
performance, with the system operating
at the optimal operating conditions
determined from the first 11 runs.
To evaluate the performance of each
run, the concentrations of indicator VOCs
in the effluent were measured by
analyzing them overnight. Only three
indicator VOCs were selected for
analysis, primarily because of time
constraints. These indicator VOCs were
trichloroethylene (TCE); 1,1-
dichloroethane (1,1 -DCA); and 1,1,1-
trichloroethane (1,1,1-TCA). TCE was
selected because it is a major volatile
contaminant at the site, and the latter two
VOCs were selected because they are
relatively difficult to oxidize.
To meet the objectives of the
demonstration, five types of sampling
and monitoring were performed. These
included: (1) water samples collected for
off-site analysis; (2) air samples collected
for off-site analysis: (3) water samples
collected for immediate on-site analysis:
(4) measurements for an air contaminant
(ozone), using a direct-reading
instrument: and (5) process control
measurements associated with the Ultrox
system.
Summary and Conclusions
The SITE Demonstration of the Ultrox
UV radiation/oxidation treatment
technology was performed on
contaminated groundwater at the LB&D
2

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site in San Jose, California, during
February and March 1989. The
demonstration consisted of 13 test runs
on approximately 13,000 gallons of
groundwater, using a commercial-size
(150-gallon) Ultrox unit. The following
observations were made during the
demonstration:
•	44 VOCs were identified in the
groundwater at the site. No
semivolatiles, PCBs, or pesticides
were found. The VOCs identified
included 1,1-DCA and 1,1,1-TCA,
which are difficult to oxidize and
were found in concentration ranges
of 10 to 13 ng/L and 3 to 5 iig/L,
respectively. The VOC present at the
highest concentration (48 to 85 ng/L)
was TCE.
•	The alkalinity of the groundwater was
quite high (950 mg/L as CaCOa),
indicating that carbonate and
bicarbonate ions (potential oxidant
scavengers) were present at high
levels.
•	The groundwater treated by the
Ultrox system met the applicable
National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES)
standards for discharge into a local
waterway, at the 95 percent
confidence level under certain
operating conditions. Success was
obtained by using a hydraulic
retention time of 40 minutes; ozone
dose of 110 mg/L; hydrogen
peroxide dose of 13 mg/L; all 24 UV
lamps operating; and influent pH of
7.2 (unadjusted).
•	There were no volatile organics
detected in the exhaust from the
Decompozon unit.
•	The Decompozon unit destroyed
ozone in the Ultrox reactor off-gas to
levels less than 0.1 ppm (OSHA
Standards). The ozone destruction
efficiencies were observed to be
greater than 99.99 percent
•	The Ultrox system achieved removal
efficiencies as high as 90 percent for
the total VOCs present in the
groundwater. The removal
efficiencies for TCE were greater
than 99 percent. However, the
maximum removal efficiencies for
1,1-DCA and 1,1,1-TCA under
optimal operating conditions were
about 65 and 85 percent,
respectively (Table 1).
Table 1. Performance Data for Reproducible
Runs
Mean Mean
Influent Effluent Percent
(uglL) (jig/L) Removal
65	1.2	98
11	5.3	54
4.3	0.75	83
170	16	91
52	0.55	99
11	3.8	65
3.3	0.43	87
150	12	92
49	0.63	99
10	4.2	60.
3.2	0.49	85
120	20	83
•	Within the treatment system, the
removals of 1,1-DCA and 1,1,1-TCA
appear to be due to both chemical
oxidation and stripping. Specifically,
stripping accounted for 12 to 75
percent of the total removals for
1,1,1-TCA and for 5 to 44 percent of
the total removals for 1,1-DCA.
However, stripping accounted for
less than 10 percent of the total
removals for TCE and vinyl chloride.
For other VOCs such as 1,1-
dichloroethene, benzene, acetone,
and 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane,
stripping was negligible. Volatile
organics present in the gas phase
within the reactor at levels of
approximately 0.1 to 0.5 ppm were
removed to below detection levels in
the Decompozon unit.
•	Based on the gas chromatography
(GC) and GC/mass spectrometry
(MS) analyses performed for VOCs,
semivolatile organics, and
PCBs/pesticides, no new compounds
were detected in the treated water.
The organics analyzed by GC
methods represent less than 2
percent of the total organic carbon
(TOC) present in the water. Very low
TOC removal occurred, which
implies that partial oxidation of
organics (and not complete
conversion to carbon dioxide and
water) took place in the system.
•	The Ultrox system's average
electrical energy consumption was
about 11 kilowatt-hours/hour of
operation.
Run 9
TCE
1,1-DCA
1,1,1-TCA
Total VOCs
Run 12
TCE
1,1-DCA
1,1,1-TCA
Total VOCs
Run 13
TCE
1,1-DCA
1,1,1-TCA
Total VOCs
3

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The EPA Project Manager, Norma Lewis, is with the Risk Reduction
Engineering Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH 45268 (see below).
The complete report, entitled "Technology Evaluation Report: SITE Program
Demonstration Test, Uttrox International Ultraviolet Radiation/Oxidation
Technology, San Jose, California (Order Wo. P6 90-798 1771AS; Cost: $23.00,
subjeci to change) will be available only from:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
Telephone: 703-487-4650
A related report, entitled "Applications Analysis Report SITE Program
Demonstration of the Uttrox International Ultraviolet Radiation/Oxidation
Technology," which discusses application and costs, is under development.
The EPA Project Manager can be contacted at:
Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Cincinnati, OH 45268
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Risk Reduction Engineering
Laboratory
Cincinnati OH 45268
Official Business
Penalty lor Private Use $300
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EPA/540/S5-89/012

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