TFC was activated in October 1993. TFC is designed to treat influent ground water at 60 gpm with concentrations of total VOCs at an average of 130 ppb, and hexavalent chromium at an average 30 ppb. LLNL discharges the ground water to a surface arroyo under the Waste Discharge Requirement Order No. 91-091. Under this agreement, the effluent limitation for total VOCs is 5 ppb, and for hexavalent chrome is 11 ppb. TFC was constructed inside a permanent building.
Submersible pumps extract the ground water from well fields located near the building.
The ground water then travels through two columns, connected in series, that are filled with ion exchange resin. After passing through both ion exchange columns, the treated ground water is discharged to a nearby ditch. The two ion exchange columns contain 30 ft3 of resin each. Process hardware consists of a batch tank, pump, sand filter, ion exchange columns, and valving and piping for treated water. The HCRU also contains a salt tank, pump, and separate piping for regenerating the resin.