ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a single factor in comparing groundwater treatment systems—time. It presents three cases to study the effect of time. The chapter looks at carbon adsorption vs air stripping and aims to compare carbon adsorption to air stripping with vapor phase carbon using life-cycle design considerations. The capital cost is only one factor in the cost of a treatment system. All treatment systems have operational costs. These costs consist of power, personnel, supplies, sludge disposal, packing maintenance, carbon disposal, and replacement. The design basis for comparing large quantities of carbon to small quantities of carbon will be: flow and benzene. There are no other contaminants present, and there is nothing that can interfere with the treatment process, i.e., silt or iron. These same assumptions will be maintained in all of the examples.
