Removal of contaminants from the vadose zone by pneumatic fracturing. Final report
Pneumatic fracturing is a new process which enhances the removal and treatment of hazardous organic contaminants from the vadose zone. It consists of injecting high pressure air or other gas into contaminated geologic formations at controlled flow rates and pressures. Initial studies performed at a bench scale consistently demonstrated that fractured soils displayed 100% to 360% higher removal rates than unfractured soils. A full-scale prototype system was subsequently fabricated and field tested at two uncontaminated sites, including an unconsolidated clayey silt deposit and a sandstone/siltstone formation. At both sites, pneumatic fracturing caused significant increases in subsurface air flow typically ranging from one to two orders of magnitude. Measurement of ground surface heave confirmed fractures propagated up to 16 feet from the point of injection. Complementary theoretical studies have resulted in the development of models for: (1) pneumatic fracture initiation; and (2) dual porosity flow and mass transport in pneumatically fractured media. The study concludes that pneumatic fracturing is an effective emerging technology which can reduce treatment time of contaminated formations, and extend available technologies to more difficult geologic conditions.
- Research Organization:
- New Jersey Inst. of Tech., Newark, NJ (United States). Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- OSTI ID:
- 5405402
- Report Number(s):
- PB-92-161207/XAB; CNN: DI-14-08-0001-G1739
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
540220* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
CLEANING
CONTROL
DECONTAMINATION
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FLUID MECHANICS
FRACTURING
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GROUND WATER
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INJECTION
INTAKE
LAND POLLUTION CONTROL
MANAGEMENT
MASS TRANSFER
MATERIALS
MATERIALS RECOVERY
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MECHANICS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PNEUMATICS
POLLUTION CONTROL
PROCESSING
RECOVERY
REMEDIAL ACTION
SUBSURFACE ENVIRONMENTS
TECHNOLOGY UTILIZATION
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WATER
WATER POLLUTION CONTROL