Activated Carbon-Based Technology for In Situ Remediation
oEPA
EPA 542-F-18-001 | April 2018
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Remedial Technology Fact
Sheet - Activated Carbon-
Based Technology for
In Situ Remediation
Introduction
This fact sheet, developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation,
concerns an emerging remedial technology that applies a combination of
activated carbon (AC) and chemical and/or biological amendments for in
situ remediation of soil and groundwater contaminated by organic
contaminants, primarily petroleum hydrocarbons and chlorinated solvents.
The technology typically is designed to carry out two contaminant removal
processes: adsorption by AC and destruction by chemical and/or
biological amendments.
With the development of several commercially available AC-based
products, this remedial technology has been applied with increasing
frequency at contaminated sites across the country, including numerous
leaking underground storage tank (LUST) and dry cleaner sites (Simon
2015). It also has been recently applied at several Superfund sites, and
federal facility sites that are not on the National Priorities List.
This fact sheet provides information to practitioners and regulators for a
better understanding of the science and current practice of AC-based
remedial technologies for in situ applications. The uncertainties
associated with the applications and performance of the technology also
are discussed.
What is AC-based technology?
AC-based technology applies a composite or mixture of AC and
chemical and/or biological amendments that commonly are used in a
range of in situ treatment technologies.
Presently, five commercial AC-based products have been applied for
in situ subsurface remediation in the U.S.: BOS-100® & 200 (RPI),
COGAC® (Remington Technologies), and PlumeStop® (Regenesis)
are the four most commonly used commercial products. CAT-100®
from RPI is the most recent product, developed based on BOS-100®.
One research group in Germany also developed a product called
Carbo-lron®. Detailed properties and compositions of these products
are shown in Exhibit 1.
The AC components of these products typically are acquired from
specialized AC manufacturers. These types of AC have desired
adsorption properties for chlorinated solvents and petroleum
hydrocarbons. Different products also have different AC particle sizes,
which determine the suitable injection approach and the applicable
range of geological settings.
At a Glance
~	An emerging remedial technology
combining adsorption by activated
carbon (AC) and degradation by
reactive amendments.
~	Several commercial products of
various AC particle size and different
amendments.
~	Synergy between adsorption and
degradation for treating chlorinated
solvents and petroleum
hydrocarbons.
~	Applied to treat plumes but also
residual source in low-permeability
zones.
~	Primarily uses direct push injection,
including high-pressure in low-
permeability zones for granular AC-
and powdered AC-based products
and low pressure for colloidal AC-
based products in high-permeability
zones. Injection well has also been
used for delivering colloidal AC-
based products.
~	Requires adequate characterization
(i.e., a high-resolution conceptual site
model (CSM)) for effective remedial
design.
~	Adsorption to AC results in rapid
concentration reduction in aqueous
phase after injection.
~	Rebound may occur due to greater
contaminant influx than the rate of
adsorption and degradation, poor
site characterization, or lack of
effective distribution.
~	Performance assessment may be
subject to bias if AC is present in
monitoring wells. Other lines of
evidence are important.
~	Field evidence of degradation is
limited but promising. However,
persistence and contribution of
degradation need further validation.

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Activated Carbon-Based Technology for In Situ Subsurface Remediation
How are contaminants treated by AC-based technology?
~	AC-based technology involves two contaminant
removal processes: adsorption and degradation.
AC is responsible for adsorption and reactive
amendments are responsible for degradation.
~	AC is composed of randomly oriented graphite
stacks. The random orientation results in a highly
porous matrix having a wide range of pore sizes.
Adsorption of typical groundwater organic
contaminants (e.g., benzene, trichloroethylene)
primarily occurs in micropores (<2 nm in
diameter). Large pores, mesopores and
macropores, mainly serve as transport conduits for
contaminants to reach adsorption sites via
intraparticle diffusion (Bansal and Goyal 2005).
~	Under typical subsurface temperatures, physical
adsorption is the dominant adsorption mechanism,
which is a reversible process governed by the van
Der Waals force (Karanfil and Kildulff 1999).
Contaminant desorption can occur when
equilibrium conditions (e.g., pH, plume
composition) change, but AC applications in
sediment remediation showed that the desorption
rate from AC is much slower than that from
indigenous sediment materials (Sun and Ghosh
2008).
~	Chemical or biological amendments determine the
contaminant groups treated and degradation
pathways supported. BOS-100® treats chlorinated
solvents via zero-valent iron (ZVI)-mediated
abiotic dechlorination; BOS-200® treats petroleum
hydrocarbons by bioaugmentation. COGAC®
treats either group by chemical oxidation and likely
subsequent biostimulation; and PlumeStop® treats
either group by biostimulation or bioaugmentation
depending on the specific amendments applied
(Exhibit 1).
~	Solid amendments (e.g., ZVI) or bacteria often
have much larger size than micropores, the major
adsorption sites of AC (Exhibit 2). Therefore,
sorbed contaminants must be desorbed and
diffuse out of micropores to be degraded. This
process is driven by the concentration gradient
between sorption sites and bulk liquid phase
(Spetel Jr et al. 1989; Tseng et al. 2011).
~	Contaminant removal is controlled by the dynamic
equilibrium between contaminant influx, adsorption
and degradation. This has been suggested to
occur in biological activated carbon reactors for
wastewater treatment, where the relative
contribution of adsorption and biodegradation to
contaminant removal varies at different operational
stages (Voice et al. 1992; Zhao et al. 1999).
Contaminants stay within the treatment zone when
combined rates of adsorption and degradation
exceed the incoming mass flux.
Exhibit 1: Properties of six AC-based products that have been used for in situ applications
Product
Property
Target
Contaminant
Degradation Pathway
BOS-100®
Granular AC (GAC) impregnated by ZVI
Chlorinated
solvents
Abiotic reductive
dechlorination
BOS-200®
Powder AC (PAC) mixed with nutrients,
electron acceptors, and facultative bacteria mix
Petroleum
Hydrocarbons
Aerobic and anaerobic
bioaugmentation
CAT-100®
BOS-100® and reductive dechlorination
bacterial strains
Chlorinated
solvents
Abiotic and biotic reductive
dechlorination
COGAC®
GAC or PAC mixed with calcium peroxide, and
sodium persulfate
Chlorinated
solvents or
petroleum
hydrocarbons
Chemical oxidation,
aerobic and anaerobic
biostimulation
PlumeStop®
Colloidal AC suspension with an organic
stabilizer, co-applied with hydrogen or oxygen
release compounds, and/or corresponding
bacterial strains
Chlorinated
solvents or
petroleum
hydrocarbons
Enhanced biotic reductive
dechlorination for
chlorinated solvents and
aerobic biodegradation for
petroleum hydrocarbons
Carbo-lron®
Colloidal AC impregnated with ZVI
Chlorinated
solvents
Abiotic reductive
dechlorination
2

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Activated Carbon-Based Technology for In Situ Subsurface Remediation
Exhibit 2. (Left) Conceptual structure and (Right) transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of Carbo-lron
(Adopted from Mackenzie et al. 2016)
What are the potential benefits of using AC-based remedial technology?
nZVI from undesired side reactions with
dissolved oxygen and water, which often
outcompete contaminant degradation for nZVI
because of their greater abundance,
~	Adsorption may enrich chemicals (including both
contaminants and nutrients) overtime to
facilitate formation of active biofilm and
biodegradation (Voice et al. 1992). The
combined effects may significantly reduce the
time frame to reach remedial objectives.
~	For high concentration of chlorinated VOCs,
adsorption onto AC decreases the initial high
aqueous contaminant concentration that inhibits
biological dechlorination and shortens the lag
phase for biodegradation (Aktas et al. 2012).
Adsorption can significantly retard contaminant
migration and decrease dissolved phase
concentrations. Retaining contaminants in the
AC matrix allows longer residence time for
contaminants to be degraded by reactive
amendments. The coupling of adsorption and
degradation reduces the potential for
contaminant rebound that frequently is
encountered with conventional treatment
technologies (e.g., pump and treat (P&T) or in
situ chemical oxidation (ISCO)).
AC impregnated with nano zerovalent iron
(nZVI) is shown to have more persistent
reactivity than suspended nZVI particles (Choi et
al. 2009). It was suggested that AC may protect
How is AC-based remedial technology implemented in field?
~	Grid injection that targets a well-defined
contaminated area commonly is used if the
footprint of treatment areas is relatively small,
such as some LUST sites or localized hotspots.
~	For plume, barrier applications commonly are
used. AC-based amendments typically are
emplaced in transects to form a series of
permeable reactive zones that are perpendicular
to the direction of plumes. An external water
supply typically is needed to mix and dilute
amendments in these barrier wall configurations.
»> High-pressure injection (typically 300 to 1000 psi),
(i.e., hydraulic fracturing), is used foremplacing
Granular AC(GAC)- or Powder AC(PAC)-based
amendments due to the need to open up the
formation for emplacement of the large particles.
As fracturing is more effective in low-permeability
formations, GAC or PAC-based amendments
typically are injected in tight formations, such as
clays and silts (Winner and Fox 2016).
~	Less frequently, soil mixing or trenching has also
been used for emplacement of GAC or PAC-
based amendments provided suitable
hydrogeological conditions. For example, BOS-
100, a GAC-based product, was emplaced by
deep soil mixing in a sandy aquifer during a pilot
test at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, after high-
pressure injection showed poor amendment
distribution (ITRC 2011).
~	Colloidal AC-based amendments are emplaced by
low-pressure injection (e.g., 30-50 psi) using
direct push or permanent injection wells without
creating artificial fractures. As a result, the
amendment primarily is applied to more
permeable formations such as sands and gravels.
However, even a low-permeability aquifer may
contain permeable (flux) zones that permit
application of colloidal AC-based amendment.
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Activated Carbon-Based Technology for In Situ Subsurface Remediation
How is AC-based amendment distributed in the subsurface?
For GAC- and PAC-based amendments, high-
pressure injection typically produces thin seams or
lenses of AC in seemingly random directions. In
tight geologies, fractures typically have higher
permeability than surrounding formations. This
difference may ailow contaminant desorption and
diffusion from the low-permeability formations into
the fractures. The conceptual model is shown on
the left in Exhibit 3. Tight injection spacing in both
horizontal and vertical directions is recommended
to obtain sufficient coverage as it is difficult to
control the formation and growth of fractures
(Murdoch, 1995). Some recent improvements
have been made to better control the direction and
development of fractures (i.e., direct push jet
injection), but these approaches have not been
applied to injecting AC-based amendments.
For colloidal AC, the particles infiltrate into the
permeable zone or formation upon low-pressure
injection and eventually deposit onto the surface of
soil grains due to surface-surface interactions. The
presence of an organic polymer improves the
colloidal stability and transport in the subsurface.
Therefore, the distribution of amendments in flux
zones is expected to be more uniform than
induced fracturing of AC-based amendments of
larger particle size (Exhibit 3, on right).
GAC or PAC
Colloidal AC
/ / //
WW
/ / //
WW
/ ///
\ w\
///
u
w\
High Pressure Injection
Low Pressure Injection
Exhibit 3. Different conceptual distribution patterns between GAC- or PAC-based amendment
(left) and colloidal AC-based amendment (right). Dark regions represent the forms of
amendment distribution and arrows represent the directions of contaminant flux entering the
AC zone. (Adapted from Fan et al. 2017).
What are the key factors to consider during remedial design?
Design of AC-based remedies primarily focuses
on defining optimal injection locations and
loadings, which are affected by the treatment
approach and objective (e.g., area treatment to
reduce mass flux or barrier application to intercept
plume). The key to effective remedial design of
AC-based technology (or any in situ remedial
technology), is to conduct adequate site
characterization to create a sufficiently detailed
CSM.
Subsurface geology and contaminant mass
distribution are the two major aspects to
characterize during remedial design investigation
(Winner and Fox 2016). Subsurface hydrogeology
can be characterized by grain size distribution
analysis, Clearwater injection, or hydraulic
profiling (Birnstingl et al. 2014). Contaminant
distribution can be qualitatively determined by
various in situ rapid screening tools, such as the
membrane interface probe (MIP) (Winner and Fox
2016; EPA 2016); laser induced fluorescence (LIF)
technique for non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL);
or a photo ionization detector (PID) for soil
screening on-site. Selected samples can be
subject to more rigorous laboratory analysis if
needed.
For GAC- and PAC- based amendments, it is
important to profile the vertical distribution of
contaminant mass as it determines the vertical
injection interval and injection loading at each
interval, especially when the remedy is designed
to treat a residual source area with heterogeneous
lithology. At a former manufacturing site in Denver,
the initial injection of BOS-100® near the source
area did not achieve performance objectives.
Further high-resolution site characterization
4

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Activated Carbon-Based Technology for In Situ Subsurface Remediation
revealed highly heterogeneous contaminant
distribution in the vertical direction. Subsequent
injection loading and approach were adjusted to
the contaminant distribution pattern, which
significantly improved the remedy performance
(Noland et al. 2012; Harp 2014).
For colloidal AC-based amendments, it is
important to locate the high-permeability zones
and estimate the mass flux across those zones to
determine where to apply the amendments, and
how much is needed.
Contaminants associated with soil (e.g., sorbed)
and residual NAPL phase represent the majority of
the contaminant mass stored in low-permeability
zones, and can serve as a long-term source for
groundwater contamination. The calculation of
contaminant loading needs to consider the rates of
back diffusion of source material or the total mass
of contamination.
Laboratory-measured adsorption capacity often
serves as a benchmark value to calculate
amendment loading. However, the actual
adsorption capacity varies with contaminant
concentration and can be further complicated by
competitive adsorption and potential growth of
biofilm.
~ Vendors often are willing to actively participate in
the remedial investigation and design phases to
ensure successful implementation and desired
performance of their products. Spreadsheets are
available from the vendors to calculate the loading
rates of amendments based on estimated
contaminant mass (or mass flux), adsorption
capacity, remedial objectives, and the designed
lifetime of the remedy. However, the calculation is
largely empirical due to various uncertainties
caused by subsurface heterogeneity. Based on
discussion with the vendors, a safety factor of 5 to
20 is recommended for estimating amendment
loading.
How does the AC-based remedial technology perform in the field?
~	The four commercial AC-based products
combined have accumulated more than 1500
applications in North America and Europe as of
2015	(Simon 2015). To date, this technology has
been used or selected at four NPL sites and one
RCRA corrective action site.
~	Field data generally show rapid decrease of
aqueous contaminant concentration after
emplacement of the amendments when initial
contaminant concentration is high. The decrease
is more gradual when initial contaminant
concentration is low (e.g., <100 ppb). Temporary
rebound shortly after injection is common, and
may occur when equilibrium is reestablished after
enhanced contaminant desorption from aquifer
solids, or when plume is temporarily displaced by
injection of amendments in large volumes.
~	Regenesis evaluated the performance of
PlumeStop® applied at 24 sites between 2014 and
2016	by pooling contaminant concentrations from
34 monitoring wells (Davis 2016). Regenesis
found more than 65% of wells achieved >95%
reduction within 1-3 months after injection. The
initial rapid response is most likely due to rapid
adsorption process.
~	Rebound of contamination has been observed at
some sites that applied AC-based amendments.
The same study by Regenesis (Davis 2016) found
that 15% of the wells examined showed some
rebound over an average of 6-month time frame
but the rebound is generally <10% of pre-
treatment concentrations. Early applications of
PAC-based products at LUST sites in Colorado
also identified frequent rebound (Fox 2015).
Possible reasons cited for rebound include
underestimation of contaminant mass due to poor
site characterization (Fox 2015); insufficient
amendment distribution due to large injection
spacing or poor implementation (Fox 2015); or
contaminant mass influx exceeding the
combination of adsorption and degradation
(Mackenzie et al. 2016).
~	AC frequently is observed in monitoring wells post
injection. Given amendment distribution is likely
not uniform, especially when high-pressure
injection is used, caution needs to be taken when
using impacted monitoring wells for performance
evaluation. Concentrations measured in those
wells may not accurately represent the aquifer
concentrations. In addition, impacted wells also
typically should not be used for attainment
monitoring because post remediation conditions
may not be reached (EPA 2013; EPA 2014) \
Other lines of evidence are recommended for
confirming the treatment performance achieved in
the treatment zone.
~	Several measures have been taken to improve
confidence in performance assessment using
monitoring wells. Examples include preventing or
1 "The attainment monitoring phase typically occurs after EPA makes a
determination that the remediation monitoring phase is complete. When
the attainment phase begins, data typically are collected to evaluate if
the well has reached post remediation conditions (i.e., steady state
conditions) where remediation activities, if employed, are no longer
influencing the groundwater in the well." (EPA 2013)

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Activated Carbon-Based Technology for In Situ Subsurface Remediation
minimizing well impact using geochemical
parameters as early indicators for breakthrough of
AC; installing new wells near the existing impacted
wells to demonstrate that either amendment
distribution is not localized or AC-free wells exhibit
similar treatment effects as AC-impacted wells;
and monitoring downgradient wells adjacent to the
What is the evidence for degradation?
~	Degradation is generally an indispensable
component of contaminant removal processes by
AC-based amendments. Without degradation, AC-
based remedial technology may serve only to
stabilize the contaminants, and contaminants may
break through once adsorption capacity is
exhausted or when desorption occurs. Throughout
the development of the technology, the uncertainty
regarding the importance and persistence of
degradation has been a major hurdle for wide
acceptance of the technology.
~	Bench-scale tests have demonstrated the
effectiveness of degradation processes involved in
AC-based remedial products (Birnstingl et al.
2014). However, controlled laboratory results may
not guarantee field effectiveness, especially for
biodegradation that is more variable because of
field heterogeneities.
~	It is difficult to confirm contaminant degradation in
the field. Both adsorption and degradation can
result in decreasing contaminant concentrations
without the appearance of daughter products,
which may also be adsorbed by AC. Use of
contaminant data from monitoring wells does not
distinguish contaminant removal by adsorption
from that by degradation.
~	To date, field evidence of degradation has been
limited and largely qualitative. For petroleum
hydrocarbons, depletion of nitrate or sulfate, and
production of volatile fatty acids, have been
suggested as evidence of biodegradation.
~	For chlorinated solvents, production of chloride
has been used to indicate dechlorination, but this
line of evidence only applies when background
chloride concentration is low or contaminant
concentration is very high (i.e., near the source
area). In one pilot test of Carbo-lron, significant
elevation of ethene and ethane was used as
evidence for abiotic reductive dechlorination
(Mackenzie et al. 2016).
~	More recently, environmental molecular diagnostic
(EMD) tools have shown promise for assessing
biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons and
chlorinated solvents (ITRC 2013). The following
recent data was provided to EPA by three vendors
of AC-based products to demonstrate degradation:
treatment zone to observe for decreasing
contaminant trend (Winner and Fox, 2016).
Removing AC from impacted wells prior to
sampling could be another solution. It has been
shown to be moderately successful for colloidal
AC but not work for AC with large particle sizes,
according to vendors and practitioners.
o At one chlorinated solvent site where
PlumeStop® was injected with a hydrogen
release compound (HRC®) and
Dehalococcoides cultures, the combination
significantly increased the abundance of
degraders and functional genes in the
aqueous phase after injection. The high
abundance was sustained for over 500
days, even though the dissolved
tetrachloroethene (PCE) remained below the
detection limit. This pattern suggests that
enhanced concentrations of microbial
indicators resulted from enhanced microbial
activity in the up-gradient AC barrier.
o At one petroleum site where COGAC® was
injected, groundwater samples were
collected one year after injection. In these
samples, the abundance of six anaerobic
BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and
xylenes) and PAH (polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbon) degraders was found to be 2
to 4 orders of magnitude higher in samples
collected from wells within the injection
influence zone than in samples collected
from a well outside the injection influence
zone.
o At one petroleum site where BOS-200® was
injected to form a permeable reactive zone,
compound specific isotope analysis (CSIA)
was conducted on samples collected from
wells up- and downgradient of the PRB two
years after injection. Compared to the
upgradient well, the downgradient wells
consistently show small but evident
enrichment of C13 for several BTEX
compounds, indicating occurrence of
biodegradation of these compounds.
i* Applications of AC in other contaminant removal
processes such as wastewater and sediment
treatment have suggested that AC enhances
biodegradation by promoting the formation of
biofilms, which can be attributed to increasing
nutrient retention, enhanced resistance to
environmental shocks, and increased microbial
diversity (Simpson 2008; Kjellerup et al. 2014).
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Activated Carbon-Based Technology for In Situ Subsurface Remediation
What is the long-term effectiveness of AC-based remedial technology?
~	The longevity of AC-based remedial technology is
of particular interest because the long-term
effectiveness to counter slow and persistent
contaminant flux (from diffusion, desorption, and
dissolution) is one of the major benefits claimed
for this technology.
~	Currently, there is lack of sufficient monitoring data
to assess the long-term performance due to either
recent implementation or the lack of long-term
monitoring requirements at many small sites.
Thus, the long-term effectiveness of this
technology remains to be further evaluated when
data become available.
~	The relative contribution of contaminant adsorption
versus degradation is a critical parameter for
evaluating the long-term performance. As
contaminant can eventually break through when
adsorption capacity becomes exhausted,
degradation is the main driver in maintaining the
long-term effectiveness of the technology. This
aspect remains to be further investigated.
~ Competitive adsorption may affect long-term
effectiveness. Competitive adsorption refers to a
process where strongly sorbed compounds may
displace weakly sorbed compounds, resulting in
release of the latter. Competitive adsorption
should be evaluated for treating comingled plumes
or plumes where degradation intermediates are
expected to form if degradation stalls or does not
proceed to completion. For example, sorbed
benzene may be displaced by xylene in a BTEX
plume. For a chlorinated solvent plume, daughter
products such as c/'s-dichloroethene (DCE) or vinyl
chloride may be displaced by PCE or
trichloroethene (TCE). This potential desorption
behavior again highlights the importance of
supporting degradation activity and including
(bio)degradation assessment in a long-term
monitoring plan.
Where and when should AC-based remedial technology be considered?
~	AC-based remedial technology provides an	issues resulted from changes in subsurface redox
effective approach to address persistent plumes	conditions due to application of reactive
emanating from low-permeability sources,	amendments. At one site, the effectiveness of the
desorption, or dissolution of residual NAPL phase.	adsorption mechanism alone is proposed to last
~	AC-based remedial technology could be	sufficiently long to allow time for source treatment,
considered when other remedial options at a site	However, long-term monitoring data are required
have demonstrated limited effectiveness. For	to confirm long-term performance.
example, applications of AC-based remediation at ~ While emplacement of AC-based amendments
LUST sites in Colorado and Kentucky (primarily	typically is not considered as a source treatment
PAC-based amendments) mainly occurred at sites	technology due to concerns of exhausting the
dominated by low-permeability formations,	adsorption capacity quickly, emplacements of AC
including fractured bedrock, where soil vapor	in sources or around source areas as a barrier
extraction or bioremediation was not successful	have been applied in the field. The goal is to
(Winner and Fox 2016).	significantly reduce contaminant mass flux out of
~	AC-based remedial technology can serve as a	the sources to reduce downgradient impacts. The
cost-saving alternative to active P&T to prevent	technology can be coupled with source zone
plume migration. It may also complement an	treatment technologies, such as in situ thermal
existing P&T system to contain a plume by	treatment, or with excavation when not all
reducing the rate or area for pumping.	contaminated material can be removed.
~	Several recent Superfund AC applications used ~ In scenarios where fast groundwater flow velocity
AC only without adding reactive amendments for	might limit the effectiveness of soluble
treating low-concentration chlorinated solvent	amendments due to dilution, colloidal AC-based
plumes. The approach was selected to avoid	amendments may be considered since they more
potential generation of poorly sorbed daughter	rapidly adsorb to aquifer materials and are more
products or avoid secondary groundwater quality	likely to remain in the target treatment area.
Where can I find more information?
~ Akta_, O., K.R. Schmidt, S. Mungenast, C. Stoll,
and A. Tiehm. 2012. Effect of chloroethene
concentrations and granular activated carbon on
reductive dechlorination rates and growth of
Dehalococcoides spp. Bioresource Technology
103(1):286-292.
http://dx.doi.Org/10.1016/i.biortech.2011.09.119
~ Bansal, R.C. and M. Goyal. 2005. Activated
Carbon Adsorption, first ed. Boca Raton, Fla.:
CRC Press.
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Birnstingl, J., C. Sandefur, K. Thoreson, S.
Rittenhouse, and B. Mork. 2014. PlumeStop™
Colloidal Biomatrix: Securing Rapid Contaminant
Reduction and Accelerated Biodegradation Using
a Dispersive Injectable Reagent. San Clemente,
CA: REGENESIS Bioremediation Products.
htt ps ://req e n es is. co m/wp-
content/uploads/2014/08/REGENESIS PlumeSto
p Colloidal Biomatrix White Paper.pdf
Choi, H., S.R. Al-Abed, and S. Agarwal. 2009.
Effects of aging and oxidation of palladized iron
embedded in activated carbon on the
dechlorination of 2-chlorobiphenyl. Environmental
Science & Technology 43(11):4137-4142.
http://dx.doi.orq/10.1021/es803535b
Davis, D. 2016. PlumeStop Liquid Activated
Carbon Technology Multi-site Performance
Review. 2016 West Virginia Brownfields
Conference, Charleston, West Virginia.
http://wvbrownfields.org/wp-
content/uploads/2016/09/Douq-Davis Plume-
Stop LRS2016.pdf
EPA. 2013. Guidance for Evaluating Completion of
Groundwater Restoration Remedial Actions.
OSWER 9355.0-129.
https://semspub.epa.qov/work/HQ/175206.pdf
EPA. 2014. Recommended Approach for
Evaluating Completion of Groundwater
Restoration Remedial Actions at a Groundwater
Monitoring Well. OSWER 9283.1-44.
https://semspub.epa.qov/work/HQ/173689.pdf
EPA. 2016. High-Resolution Site Characterization
(HRSC).Contaminated Site Clean-Up and
Characterization (CLU-IN) Website. Accessed Sep
23, 2016. https://clu-
in.org/characterization/technoloqies/hrsc/
Fan, D., E. Gilbert, and T. Fox. 2017. Current state
of in situ subsurface remediation by activated
carbon-based amendments. Journal of
Environmental Management 204(2):793-803.
https://doi.Org/10.1016/i.ienvman.2017.02.014
Fox, T. 2015. Petroleum remediation using in-situ
activated carbon (a review of results). 2015
National Tank Conference, Phoenix, Arizona.
http://click.neiwpcc.org/tanks2015/tanks2015prese
ntations/3-T uesdav/Carbon-
Based%20lniections/fox.carbon injection.tuesdav.
pdf
Harp, T. 2014. Obtaining high-resolution data to
demonstrate BOS 100 performance in a large TCE
plume with extensive DNAPL present. The Ninth
International Conference on Remediation of
Chlorinated and Recalcitrant
Compounds, Monterey, California.
ITRC. 2011. Permeable Reactive Barrier:
Technology Update. https://clu-
in.org/conf/itrc/prbtu/prez/ITRC PRBUpdate 0920
12ibtpdf.pdf
~	ITRC. 2013. Environmental Molecular Diagnostics:
New Site Characterization and Remediation
Enhancement Tools. https://clu-
in.org/download/contaminantfocus/dnapl/ITRC-
EMD-2.pdf
~	Karanfil, T. and J.E. Kilduff. 1999. Role of granular
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Notice and Disclaimer
This document has been reviewed in accordance with U.S. EPA procedures and has been approved for publication as a
U.S. EPA publication. The information in this paper is not intended, nor can it be relied upon, to create any rights
enforceable by any party in litigation with the United States or any other party. This document is neither regulation nor
should it be construed to represent EPA policy or guidance. Use or mention of trade names does not constitute an
endorsement or recommendation for use by the U.S. EPA.
This project was supported in part by an appointment to the Internship/Research Participation Program at the Office of
Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation, U.S. EPA, administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and
Education through an interagency agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. EPA.
A PDF version of this document, Technical Fact Sheet- Activated-carbon based Technology for In Situ Remediation, is
available to view or download at https://clu-in.Org/s.focus/c/pub/i/2727/
For further information, contact Technology Assessment Branch, Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology
Innovation, Office of Land and Emergency Management.
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