Partrac is set to present the findings of a U.S. Department of Defense-funded project into the use of fluorescent magnetic particles for linking contaminant sources to sediments, at Battelle’s 2019 conference on the Remediation and Management of Contaminated Sediments this week in New Orleans (February 11-14).
Source control (reducing contamination from point or diffuse sources) is a crucial part of any management plan for contaminated waterways and aquatic sediments.
To properly understand source control, a knowledge of the sources of contaminated particles, their transport pathways and sites of deposition is essential, said Partrac.
Using specially developed ‘dual signature’ fluorescent/ferrimagnetic coated particles, Partrac were able to quantitatively map the spatiotemporal distribution and depositional footprint of particles released from typical contaminated sources into nearby aquatic environments, demonstrating the linkage between sources and sediment areas most likely to be impacted.
This ESTCP demonstration program proved that dual signature tracers are an excellent analog for a range of contaminated particulates and Partrac has developed a robust methodological framework to guide users.