CLU-IN.ORG | Contaminant Focus: 1,4-DIOXANE, Treatment Technologies

For more information on 1,4-Dioxane, please contact:

Marti Otto
Technology Assessment Branch
(703) 603-8853
otto.martha@epa.gov

1,4-Dioxane does not yield to air stripping and liquid-phase granular activated carbon, but advanced oxidation techniques involving hydrogen peroxide and ultraviolet light (UV) or ozone have been applied successfully to destroy it. Distillation is physically viable, but the relatively high boiling point (101ºC) makes this approach uneconomical for most applications.

Chlorination of dioxane has been found to break it down optimally at 75ºC and pH 5.2; however, chlorination byproducts are from 12 to 1,000 times more toxic than 1,4-dioxane. Conventional activated sludge and other common municipal wastewater treatment technologies have proven ineffective.

The monitored natural attenuation approach to solvent contamination is unlikely to achieve degradation of 1,4-dioxane. Though typically not degraded by indigenous soil microorganisms under ambient conditions, microbial degradation in engineered bioreactors has been documented under enhanced conditions or where selected strains of bacteria capable of degrading 1,4-dioxane are cultured. Phytoremediation is being explored as a means to remove the compound from shallow ground water. Research on hybrid poplars has demonstrated their ability to take up and effectively degrade or deactivate a variety of contaminants, including atrazine, TNT, trichloroethene, and 1,4-dioxane.

Adapted from:

Bioenergy Crops and Bioremediation: a Review
C. Britt, et al., 2002

Solvent Stabilizers: White Paper
T.K.G. Mohr, Santa Clara Valley Water District, 2001.
Contact: Tom Mohr, tommohr@scvwd.dst.ca.us

This guide specification covers the product and execution requirements for liquid-phase ex situ advanced oxidation processes using titanium dioxide or hydrogen peroxide and/or ozone with or without ultraviolet light. The guide specifies AOP equipment needs to provide a complete and functional system within identified limits. AOP systems have been shown to provide successful treatment for 1,4-dioxane, among other hazardous compounds.

Biodegradation of 1,4-Dioxane
R.J. Steffan, K.R. McClay, H. Masuda, and G.J. Zylstra.
Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, SERDP project CU-1422, 118 pp, 2007

Results of this study demonstrated the recalcitrance of 1,4-dioxane. Although several organisms were shown to degrade 1,4-dioxane via cometabolism during growth on propane or tetrahydrofuran, 1,4-dioxane was not degraded in microcosms created with samples from two different aquifers regardless of the redox conditions employed. Likewise, 1,4-dioxane was not degraded in samples from 2 different treatment systems that had been exposed to 1,4-dioxane for extended periods. No bacteria that could grow on 1,4-dioxane were enriched or isolated from the four systems tested; therefore, the results indicate that biological treatment and natural biological attenuation are unlikely to be successful remedial alternatives for 1,4-dioxane-contaminated sites.

This issue paper was produced by the EPA Risk Management Research Laboratory and the Engineering Forum. It provides an up-to-date overview of ISCO remediation technology and fundamentals, and is developed based on peer-reviewed literature, EPA reports, web sources, current research, conference proceedings, and other pertinent information.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employed ultraviolet (UV)/hydrogen peroxide technology at the Charles George Landfill Superfund site to reduce 1,4-dioxane and tetrahydrofuran to 7 ppb and 14 ppb, respectively.

Considers ground-water treatment ex situ with UV/hydrogen peroxide oxidation or ozone and hydrogen peroxide oxidation, and in situ with recirculating ozone wells, Fenton's reagent, ozone-rich water injection, ozone sparging, ozone sparging and hydrogen peroxide injection, or hydrogen peroxide injection only for remediation of 1,4-dioxane contamination at the Gelman Road site, Ann Arbor, MI.

Visit the Technology Focus area for more information on in situ oxidation and phytoremediation.

Technology Innovation News Survey Archives
The Technology Innovation News Survey archive contains resources gathered from published material and gray literature relevant to the research, development, testing, and application of innovative technologies for the remediation of hazardous waste sites. The collected abstracts date from 1998 to the present, and the archive is updated twice each month.

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Last updated on Tuesday, June 17, 2008