Objective:

Copper is a high-profile contaminant found in many point and non-point source effluents. Sources of copper to the environment include treated wastewater discharges, storm water outfalls, and individually permitted outfalls such as dry docks. Some Department of Defense (DoD) operations are a significant source of copper, and many are under regulation that requires treatment or monitoring in order to comply with permit requirements. Optimization of operational costs for compliance requires the rapid, real-time characterization of the effluent before treatment and discharge. This project will demonstrate the feasibility of using a real-time analyzer to measure the total extractable copper in effluents.

Technology Description:

Regulatory measures require the monitoring of total and/or dissolved metal concentrations in effluents. Depending on the guidelines set by the regulating permits, the collection system either discharges the wastewater directly into the surrounding marine environment or diverts it to a treatment system. In general, minimization of the volume of treated discharge requires rapid characterization of the effluent. Until now, a real-time-continuous field instrument was not available that could measure the total amount of copper. Rapid, in-place characterization of all forms of copper in the effluent can be accomplished by a Total Copper Analyzer (TCA). The TCA can measure the total concentration of copper in the effluent in real-time, right at the effluent location, allowing for the rapid separation of the effluent requiring treatment. This rapid characterization should reduce the costs of operation, since the volume of water sent for treatment can be significantly reduced. The analyzer consists of two processes, one for the acidification and digestion of the effluent and the other for detection and reporting.

Expected Benefits:

Notices of Violation (NOVs) due to metal concentration exceedances are increasingly associated with fines. The demonstration and validation of the TCA is important because there is no known instrument capable of measuring total cooper, dissolved and particulate, in situ. Conventional characterization of the effluent is performed off-site with laboratory tests and is expensive and slow. The TCA will enable efficient management of effluent flows, providing near-real-time characterization and elimination of NOVs and minimization of the treated waste stream, resulting in a significant decrease in the cost of waste stream management. (Anticipated Project Completion - 2006)

Contact:

Dr. Ignacio Rivera-Duarte
SPAWAR Systems Center
Code 2361
53475 Strothe Road
San Diego, CA 92152-6325
Telephone: (619) 553-2373
Fax: (619) 553-8773
E-mail: iriverad@spawar.navy.mil