Preliminary studies of thermally enhanced soil vapor extraction
- Hohenheim Univ., Stuttgart (Germany). Inst. of Hydraulic Engineering
- Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States)
In recent years, actual and potential contamination of air, soil and groundwater by organic compounds has become a field of increasing environmental interest in Germany. The main concern is the huge number of abandoned landfill sites, where organic liquids often infiltrate the unsaturated zone. Since non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) - for example mineral oil or chlorinated hydrocarbons - are rather immobile if the NAPL-content of the soil is less than 10%, contaminant spills with NAPL remain long term contaminant sources. They dissolve in groundwater and evaporate into the soil gas, and will be transported by diffusion into the atmosphere. For remediation the traditional ``pump and treat`` methods are inefficient because NAPL solubility in groundwater is small and because sorption and vaporization of the contaminant can be rate-limited processes. With the aim of developing remediation technologies, the experimental VEGAS research facility for subsurface remediation was built at the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering at the University of Stuttgart/Germany. The objective of VEGAS is to test and optimize existing techniques and to develop new approaches for in-situ remediation of contaminated aquifers and soils. VEGAS focusses on methods for determining the mobility of contaminants in the subsurface and for improving the assessment of contaminated sites. Furthermore, methods for determining the overall mass and distribution of contaminants in the subsurface, and techniques for identifying physical and chemical subsurface properties are to be developed and improved as well. This includes further development of finite element techniques for simulating 3-phase fluid and heat flow.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC03-76SF00098
- OSTI ID:
- 197849
- Report Number(s):
- LBL--37636; ON: DE96004219
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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