Jaron Andrews
MS Student- Hydrology

Research

My research looks at the removal or arsenic from municipal water systems using a granulated material known as Surfactant-Modified Zeolite/ Zero-Valent Iron (SMZ/ZVI). Zeolite is a natural mineral composed of altered volcanic ash that is obtained locally here in New Mexico near Truth or Consequences from the St. Cloud Zeolite Mine. The surfactant-modified zeolite (SMZ) has a surfactant, a long carbon molecule that has one end that is hydrophobic and another end that is hydrophilic, is applied to the zeolite surface. The SMZ has been combined with zero-valent iron on a hard silicate foam base to create SMZ/ZVI. The SMZ/ZVI material was developed by my advisor, Robert Bowman, and has been used previously for the destruction of chlorinated solvents via a permeable reactive barrier (PRB).

I am interested in using the SMZ/ZVI to remove arsenic from drinking water due to the EPA standards that require arsenic to be below 10 µg/L (or ppb). I have performed several batch experiments to quantify the sorption capacity and the effects of water chemistry. I am using small scale (30 cm) column experiments to determine flow parameters and modeling the results using Hydrus 1-D. I have run large scale (1.8 m) column experiments at the Socorro Springs Chlorination Site and plan to run more experiments during the summer of 2009.