Augmenting in‐situ remediation by soil vapor extraction with six‐phase soil heating

Abstract

AbstractThe use and performance of soil vapor extraction (SVE) as an in‐situ remedial technology has been limited at numerous sites because of both geologic and chemical factors. SVE systems are not well suited to sites containing low permeability soils or sites contaminated with recalcitrant compounds. Six‐phase soil heating (SPSH) has been developed by the Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories (Battelle) to enhance SVE systems. The technology utilizes resistive soil heating to increase the vapor pressure of subsurface contaminants and to generate an in‐situ source of steam. The steam strips contaminants sorbed onto soil surfaces and acts as a carrier gas, providing an enhanced mechanism by which the contaminants can reach an extraction well.Full‐scale applications of SPSH have been performed at the U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site in Aiken, South Carolina; at a former fire training site in Niagara Falls, New York; and at Fort Richardson near Anchorage, Alaska. At each site, chlorinated solvents were present in low permeability soils and SPSH was applied in conjunction with SVE. The results of the three applications showed that SPSH is a cost‐effective technology that can reduce the time required to remediate a site using only conventional SVE.