Permeability Enhancement in Fine-Grained Sediments by Chemically Induced Clay Fabric Shrinkage
The National Research Council [1] identified the entrapment of contaminants in fine-grained clay-bearing soils as a major impediment to the timely and cost-effective remediation of groundwater to regulatory standards. Contaminants trapped in low-permeability, low-diffusivity, high-sorptivity clays are not accessible to advective flushing by treatment fluids from permeable zones, and slowly diffuse out to recontaminate previously cleaned permeable strata. We propose to overcome this barrier to effective remediation by exploiting the ability of certain nontoxic EPA-approved chemicals (e.g., ethanol) to shrink and alter the fabric of clays, and thereby create macro-porosity and crack networks in fine-grained sediments. This would significantly reduce the distance and time scales of diffusive mass transport to advectively flushed boundaries, to yield orders of magnitude reduction in the time required to complete remediation. Given that effective solutions to this central problem of subsurface remediation do not yet exist, the cost and time benefits of successful deployment of this novel concept, both as a stand-alone technology and as an enabling pre-treatment for other remedial technologies that rely on advective delivery, is likely to be very large. This project, funded as a 1-year feasibility study by LLNL's LDRD Program, is a multi-directorate, multi-disciplinary effort that leverages expertise from the Energy & Environment Directorate, the Environmental Restoration Division, and the Manufacturing & Materials Evaluation Division of Mechanical Engineering. In this feasibility study, a ''proof-of-principle'' experiment was performed to answer the central question: ''Can clay shrinkage induced by ethanol in clay-bearing sediments overcome realistic confining stresses, crack clay, and increase its effective permeability by orders of magnitude within a time that is much smaller than the time required for diffusive mass transport of ethanol in the unaltered sediment?'' To this end, we performed a crack propagation experiment under confining stress on an initially water-saturated bentonite clay layer that was exposed to pure ethanol on one surface and water on the other. We measured the rate of transport of ethanol across the clay layer and found that crack breakthrough across the clay layer was accompanied by a very large sudden increase in solvent flow through the layer. Although an experimental artifact prevented measurement of the exact breakthrough time, visual evidence indicates that the clay layer cracked rapidly in this experiment. Direct evidence of the cracks provided by X-ray tomographic images provide clear proof that an extensive array of cracks was created by the ethanol-induced shrinkage. Calculations based on measured fluid pressure and flow rates, and published permeabilities of unaltered calcium bentonite clays, show that the effective permeability of the clay layer increased by a factor of 10{sup 9}-10{sup 12}. Estimates of effective permeability based on crack dimensions measured from the X-ray tomographic images support these findings. Further detailed experiments and analyses are needed to develop a predictive theory and a quantitative design capability for this process. We have begun work on securing the necessary support for these studies, with the ultimate objective of developing and deploying this novel concept as a practical remediation technology in the field.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 15009801
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-TR-202576; TRN: US200430%%1322
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 26 Feb 2004
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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