Use of blocking agent to improve the effectiveness of soil vapor extraction

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:210460

Finsterle, S; Tsang, C F; Benson, S M; Moridis, G J ^[1]

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1. Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (United States)

One of the drawbacks of soil vapor extraction for environmental cleanup is that a significant portion of the flow to the extraction well may bypass the contaminated zone. This could be due to inhomogeneity of the soil permeability as well as the accessibility of a nearby source of air, such as that from the land surface. A joint application of alternative methodologies, e.g. the use of blocking agents forming subsurface barriers in combination with soil vapor extraction or steam flooding, may greatly improve the remediation effectiveness. A multi-component strategy for subsurface remediation requires optimization of the different design elements. This includes site characterization, the design of a containment system as well as the optimization of extraction schedules and pumping rates. A modeling study was performed to explore and evaluate the possibilities. Simulations of non-isothermal, three-phase flow of volatile organic compounds in three-dimensional heterogeneous media were performed using the T2VOC code, developed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. T2VOC can be linked to the ITOUGH2 code for automatic model calibration and optimization of remediation schemes. Furthermore, the emplacement of subsurface barriers by injecting gelling liquids can be modeled. In this study, we discuss a sequence of simulations to demonstrate the potential for improved cleanup by following a multi-component remediation approach.

• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098
• OSTI ID: 210460
• Report Number(s): CONF-9509139--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AQUIFERS
DECONTAMINATION
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
EXTRACTION
FLOW BLOCKAGE
FLOW MODELS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
SOILS
T CODES