Sonochemical treatment of natural ground water at different high frequencies: preliminary results.

Naturally occurring ground water polluted by highly volatile chlorinated compounds, with 1,2-dichloroethane as the main contaminant, was sonicated with high frequency ultrasound (361, 620 and 1086 kHz) in order to investigate if results from studies performed with single model compounds in water can be applied to a natural ground water. It was shown that the treated highly volatile halogenated hydrocarbons are almost completely destroyed by ultrasound in natural ground water within 60 min. It also transpired that the naturally occurring inorganic components and gases in the ground water play an important role.