Cleaning up underground contaminants

Journal Article · Sun May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · Energy and Technology Review (Livermore, California); (United States)

OSTI ID:6956583

At hundreds of industrial and government sites across the United States, environmental consulting firms are designing permanent containment systems for underground contaminants such as hydrocarbon fuels, cleaning solvents, and industrial chemicals. In quantities of thousands of liters or more, these chemicals threaten to contaminate drinking water supplies for hundreds of years. Typical containment systems (e.g., deep wells of cement or clay, or hydraulic pumping to control groundwater movement) can keep the chemicals from further contaminating groundwater if they are properly maintained for many years, but they do not remove the contaminants. Clearly, removing the contaminants from the soil is a much preferable solution than containing them and attempting to prevent their spread. A dynamic underground stripping process that combines steam and electrical heating of underground soils with vacuum extraction of vapors and fluids and guiding these processes by real-time monitoring methods is described.

• OSTI ID: 6956583
• Journal Information: Energy and Technology Review (Livermore, California); (United States), Journal Name: Energy and Technology Review (Livermore, California); (United States); ISSN 0884-5050
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
GROUND WATER
WATER POLLUTION CONTROL
POLLUTANTS
REMOVAL
MONITORING
REAL TIME SYSTEMS
SOILS
STEAM INJECTION
UNDERGROUND
VACUUM SYSTEMS
CONTROL
FLUID INJECTION
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
LEVELS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION CONTROL
WATER
540220* - Environment
Terrestrial- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)