Heavy Metals Removal with the Gore Backpulse/dupont Oberlin (site) Technology

T h e novel DuPont/Oberlin Microfiltration T e c h n o l o g y h a s r e c e n t l y b e e n d e m o n s t r a t e d i n E P A ' s S u p e r f u n d Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) program. Its key features are f ine microfiltration at low cost using DuPont's new T y v e k B T-980* spunbonded olefin f i l t e r media coupled with Oberl in 's reliable automatic pressure filter (APF). This new microfiltration technology is best suited for contaminated heavy metal wastewaters and groundwaters. The SITE demonstration actually removed Zn, Cu, Se, Cd and Pb from contaminated groundwater from the Palmerton, PA Superfund site. H o w e v e r , t h i s new m i c r o f i l t r a t i o n technology i s l imited to low flows, generally less than about 150 gpm. As a consequence, Gore backpulse filters have been used to concentrate the flow by 2550X prior to DuPont/Oberlin microfiltration. The Gore backpulse filter assures the ppb metals removal and is much s impler than the convent ional L a m e I 1 a / s a n d f i 1 t e r corn b i n a t i o n tradition a1 1 y used. This paper will describe thcse two new technologies in detail and will present some typical application results. *DuPont's trademark for its flashspun HDPE nonwoven filtration media.