Experience with bioventing at wood-preserving sites

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

OSTI ID:467746

Gentry, J L ^[1]; Simpkin, T J ^[2]

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1. CH2M Hill Inc., Portland, OR (United States)
2. CH2M Hill Inc., Englewood, CO (United States)

The nature of the contamination and the regulatory framework of wood-preserving sites are unique. Evaluating and applying bioventing are, therefore, different than at petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated sites. Average biodegradation rates measured from in situ respiration tests and operational data at three wood-preserving sites ranged from 2.1 to 6.3 mg/kg soil/day. This is in the low range of rates from published data on bioventing at petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminated sites. A significant factor in bioventing at wood-preserving sites is in the physical characteristics of the wastes. The presence of both dense, nonaqueous-phase liquids (DNAPLs) and light, nonaqueous-phase liquids (LNAPLs) at two of the sites required dewatering in conjunction with bioventing to expose the majority of the contamination. The remedial objective at the three sites ranged from reducing contaminant mass, to reducing site risk and reducing contaminant levels so that groundwater would achieve drinking water standards. Full-scale application of bioventing is planned for 1995 at the site with mass reduction as the objective. A long-term bioventing test is being performed at the second site to evaluate the ability of bioventing to reduce levels of carcinogenic compounds, and thus risk. At the third site, bioventing is not included in the final remedy because the changes of achieving the drinking water standards are very small.

• OSTI ID: 467746
• Report Number(s): CONF-950483--; ISBN 1-57477-003-9
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
BIODEGRADATION
HYDROCARBONS
IN-SITU PROCESSING
PERFORMANCE TESTING
REMEDIAL ACTION
WOOD PRODUCTS INDUSTRY