A negative bioventing feasibility test

Conference · Wed Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994

OSTI ID:10154898

DePaoli, D W; Greene, D W; Herbes, S E ^[1]; Walzel, A D ^[2]

---

1. Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
2. Texas A&M Univ., Kingsville, TX (United States). Dept. of Environmental Engineering

A bioventing feasibility test was conducted at a hydrocarbon fuel spill site at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The soils at this site are generally of low air permeability and are representative of the clayey soils encountered at several Department of Energy sites and throughout the southeastern United States. The tests included an in situ air permeability test and in situ respiration tests at three well where highest soil contamination was measured. The in situ respiration tests showed that there was the potential for significant biodegradation in the soil with adequate oxygenation. The in situ permeability tests indicated that the majority of flow was trough fractures, rather than through the bulk soils. A helium tracer test verified that injected gas flowed directly to the surface through a small number of fractures, with no flow reaching the monitoring wells. These results indicate that oxygen transport to the bulk soils would be severely limited by diffusion, such that bioventing was deemed not feasible for this site. In light of these results, the importance of testing for fracture flow in soils of lower permeability is stressed -- whether the technology is bioventing or conventional soil venting.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 10154898
• Report Number(s): CONF-940433--6; ON: DE94012653
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020900
054000
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540220
540250
550700
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
BIODEGRADATION
CHEMICALS MONITORING AND TRANSPORT
ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
FUELS
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SPILLS
HEALTH AND SAFETY
HYDROCARBONS
MICROBIOLOGY
ORNL
PERMEABILITY
SITE RESOURCE AND USE STUDIES
SOILS