Brownfield Remediation Research Articles

Policy integration for brownfield regeneration: An analytical tool

Fragmentation of policymaking within government structures and hierarchies can often impede the formulation and implementation of sustainable urban policy. This fragmentation is apparent in complex issues such as the remediation and redevelopment of brownfields. This paper addresses integration across multiple policy domains using brownfield regeneration as a vehicle. Building on the logic and principles of Environmental Policy Integration (EPI), we present a structured analytical tool (namely Policy Integration for Brownfields- PIB) to aid in a systematic analysis of brownfield policy across different regimes at different stages of policy development. We demonstrate the utility of PIB with examples from the USA, Europe, UK, Japan, and China to highlight the critical factors essential to ensure brownfield regeneration meets the overarching aim of making cities more sustainable. The findings suggest a need for balance between often conflicting environmental and non-environmental goals in multiple phases of brownfield policymaking and practice, both between levels of government (horizontally) and across sectoral interests (vertically).

Public Private Partnership to Brownfield Remediation Projects in China: A Combined Risk Evaluation Approach

Brownfields have been receiving significant attention all over the world because of their potential threats to the environment and public health. However, a funding shortage constitutes the main obstacle to the brownfield remediation (BR). In China, to ease financial dilemmas, the governments seek collaborations with private-sector companies, i.e., the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Despite all the benefits, BR and PPP contain high risks, making stakeholders extremely cautious about investing in such projects. To support the decision-making process of the public and private parties, this paper designs a comprehensive approach to evaluate the risks of BR PPP projects in China. In more detail, several commonly used risk methods, such as TOPSIS, GRE, and FSE, are employed to construct a combined risk evaluation process, which applies multiple combined evaluation techniques to iteratively integrate individual results from those methods until a valid common result is achieved. To show the practical implementation procedure of the proposed combined approach, a hypothetical case study is performed to assess the risks of seven BR PPP projects. The analytical process also verifies that the consistency and reliability of the risk evaluation result can be achieved effectively and efficiently by jointly deploying multiple risk methods through combined techniques. The proposed decision framework facilitates a novel research idea in evaluating complicated risk situations, and can be applied to other similar scenarios where uncertainties and inconsistencies are inevitable.

THE MULTIPLE ENACTMENTS OF CONTAMINATION: Rethinking the Remediation and Redevelopment of Military‐Industrial Brownfields in the Tel Aviv Region

AbstractThe remediation and redevelopment of industrially contaminated land are complex challenges for urban regions worldwide. Yet the literature on urban brownfields mostly addresses this as a technical problem through dichotomic and anthropocentric terms, contrasting the passive and negative role of the contamination as a toxic entity in the ground with the active and positive roles assigned to human actors such as planners, developers and communities. This article contests this prevalent view by tracing in detail debates concerning the remediation of three highly contaminated military‐industrial brownfield sites in the Tel Aviv metropolitan region. Drawing on notions of ontological multiplicity and enactment from science and technology studies and on qualitative analysis of a vast database of planning protocols and court hearings alongside interviews with key stakeholders, we uncover how contamination is enacted in multiple ways as mobile/immobile, unified/fragmented, remediable/irremediable. Furthermore, following one of our field's inherent controversies—whether to fully map the contamination prior to planning the sites—the article highlights the attempts to regulate this multiplicity and replace it with a single coherent contamination. By acknowledging the multiple enactments of contamination, our approach offers a more nuanced understanding that could help stakeholders rethink the remediation and redevelopment of urban brownfields beyond simplistic technical solutions or neoliberal policy imperatives.

Economic and feasibility analysis of brownfields into brightfields by solar energy

AbstractThis study evaluated the costs and feasibility of building photovoltaic (PV) energy systems on brownfields in four localities in Taiwan. Brownfield remediation was assessed as ex situ excavation, in situ physicochemical treatment, and phytoremediation. The localities in tropical Southern Taiwan would have a higher feed‐in tariff revenue (US$0.1750 kWh–1) due to a higher daily power generating efficiency from sunlight. The capital cost including the PV modules would be approximately US$27.1–US$440 million, but the 20‐year operation and maintenance costs would be much lower. The residual value of the PV systems would be significant (US$0.03–$4.7 million) if the systems are recycled at the end of their lifetime. The total revenues from building PV systems on remediated brownfields would be US$463 241–$7 597 138, with a payback period of less than 13 years. The benefit/cost ratios of the PV systems would be between 1.26 and 1.86 depending on the remediation costs. The payback period would be extended to 16 years with a US$0.61 million ha–1 net present value if the brownfields are remediated by phytoremediation. The sensitivity analysis found that the capital costs, feedback fund, and daily power generating efficiency would be US$343 097 for every 1% of the total revenue. It is worth building a PV system if the cost of land is higher than the net present value of the PV system.

A Complex Brownfields Case Study—The Former Bannister Federal Complex, Kansas City, Missouri

AbstractIn November 2017, 225 acres (91 ha) of the former Bannister Federal Complex (BFC) in Kansas City, Missouri were transferred from the Federal Government to Bannister Transformation & Development, LLC (BTD), for demolition; environmental corrective measures; and preparation of the site for redevelopment. This presented a once‐in‐a‐lifetime opportunity to reconfigure groundwater remedies and address long‐standing soil contamination issues. The property included more than 40 previously‐identified Solid Waste Management Units, 3.9 million square feet (362,000 m2) of buildings, subsurface utilities dating back to the 1940s, and an active groundwater containment system. Demolition of buildings and installation of an interim groundwater containment system began almost immediately after property transfer. In 2018, BTD substantially modified its project schedule to incorporate the construction of the first new buildings while demolition and remedial activities were ongoing. By October 2020, construction of the first new warehouse commenced while excavation and capping of contaminated soils, installation of a groundwater containment treatment systems, and abandonment of legacy utilities were still underway. Completion of this work, within the originally planned timeframe, was made possible by factors including up‐front multi‐year funding, early and ongoing engagement of regulators, an extended 3‐year due diligence program and planning stage, and establishment of well‐defined environmental targets. Both the soil and groundwater remedies were also designed with the flexibility needed to accommodate unknown conditions, changing schedules, and revisions to the regrading and redevelopment plans. This case study highlights key technical and management factors that led to the successful completion of this complex brownfields remediation project.

Advancing environmental design with phytoremediation of brownfield soils using spontaneous invasive plants

Compared to traditional mechanical brownfield remediation strategies, phytoremediation as a sustainable and low-impact solution, yielding long-term soil chemical improvement. As a common part of many local plant communities, spontaneous invasive plants have advantages over native species in growth speed and resource-use efficiency and are many are effective on degrading or removing chemical soil pollutants. This research presents a methodology for using spontaneous invasive plants as the agent of phytoremediation for brownfield remediation is an innovative component of ecological restoration and design. This research explores s conceptual and applicable model of using spontaneous invasive plants in the phytoremediation of brownfield soil for environmental design practice. This research summarizes five parameters (Soil Drought Level, Soil Salinity, Soil Nutrients, Soil Metal Pollution, and Soil pH) and their classification standards. Based on the five parameters, a series of experiments were designed to examine 5 spontaneous invasive species' tolerance and performance to different soil conditions. Taking the research results as a data base, this research developed a conceptual model of selecting suitable spontaneous invasive plants for brownfield phytoremediation by overlaying the soil condition data and plants' tolerance data. Using a brownfield site in Boston metropolitan region as a case study, the research tested the feasibility and rationality of this model. The results propose a novel approach and materials for general environmental remediation of contaminated soil by involving spontaneous invasive plants. It also transforms the abstract phytoremediation knowledge and data to an applicable model which integrates and visualizes the requirements of scientific plant selection, design aesthetic, and ecosystem factors to help the environmental design process in brownfield remediation.

Exploring the association of Brownfield remediation status with socioeconomic conditions in Wayne County, MI

Urban neighborhoods with locations of environmental contamination, known as brownfields, impact entire neighborhoods, but corrective environmental remedial action on brownfields is often tracked on an individual property basis, neglecting the larger neighborhood-level impact. This study addresses this impact by examining spatial differences between brownfields with unmitigated environmental concerns (open site) and sites that are considered fully mitigated or closed in urban neighborhoods (closed site) on the US census tract scale in Wayne County, MI. Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy’s leaking underground storage tank (LUST) database provided brownfield information for Wayne County. Local indicators of spatial association (LISA) produced maps of spatial clustering and outliers. A McNemar’s test demonstrated significant discordances in LISA categories between LUST open and closed sites (p < 0.001). Geographically weighted regressions (GWR) evaluated the association between open and closed site spatial density (open-closed) with socioeconomic variables (population density, proportion of White or Black residents, proportion of college educated populations, the percentage of owner-occupied units, vacant units, rented units, and median household value). Final multivariate GWR showed that population density, being Black, college education, vacant units, and renter occupied units were significantly associated (p < 0.05) with open-closed, and that those associations varied across Wayne County. Increases in Black population was associated with increased open-closed. Increases in vacant units, renter-occupied units, and college education were associated with decreased open-closed. These results provide input for environmental justice research to identify inequalities and discover the distribution of environmental hazards among urban neighborhoods.

State of Brownfields in the Northern Bohemia, Saxony and Lower Silesian Regions and Prospects for Regeneration by Utilization of the Phytotechnology with the Second Generation Crops

The need to achieve the sustainability goals and to reduce the continuous exploitation of the limited urban areas increases requests for the regeneration of brownfields. The current study aims to review the state of brownfields in the Northern Czech Region and neighboring German (Saxony) and Polish (Silesian) Regions which share a common geological background and environmental problems. The peculiarities of the brownfield’s properties related to the term, classification, legislative framework, access to available data, degree of contamination, and remediation methods were the focus of this review. It was established that the state with brownfield identification and transformation is better in the Czech Republic, followed by Germany, with lower awareness in Poland. The relevant examples of successful brownfield revitalization and the importance of educational components were introduced. A prospective application of the phytotechnology with the second-generation crops for the remediation of brownfields was discussed. The utilization of Miscanthus spp. for marginal lands with low contamination can provide an economic return by having biomass converted into energy or bioproducts and the utilization of the accompanied waste as carbon-rich biochar which can indeed support phytoremediation, enhance plants’ growth and serve as a medium for carbon sequestration. The next steps in the research have to concentrate on comparison of the rehabilitation methods introduced for the targeted regions with the global approach in brownfield redevelopment along with the practical ensuring the phytotechnology potential at the selected brownfields.

Mapping the Barriers of Utilizing Public Private Partnership into Brownfield Remediation Projects in the Public Land Ownership

The financing issue is increasingly becoming a key problem for brownfield remediation in public land ownership, and Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode is considered a potentially effective solution. However, some barriers impede the utilization of the PPP mode into brownfield remediation projects in the situation of public land ownership. By taking China as an example, the study investigates the barriers when the PPP mode is used in brownfield remediation projects to deal with financing dilemmas. Specifically, 39 original barriers are first obtained from existing related literature. Based on these original barriers, a semi-structured questionnaire is designed and used in a Delphi process to achieve 14 final barriers, which can reflect the particular situation in China. To identify the interrelationship among these barriers, Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM) is used to map the hierarchical structure of the final barriers, and the Cross-Impact Matrix Multiplication Applied to Classification (MICMAC) analysis is applied to show the relationship strengths of barriers. According to the results of the ISM and MICMAC analyses, three key barriers are determined, and several corresponding recommendations are provided from the perspective of the public administration.

An economic assessment of agricultural brownfield revitalization – A case study of Eastern Slovakia

The presented article points out the possibilities of elimination of agricultural brownfield in the East Slovak region through the resumption of production by growing fast-growing woody plants, specifically Paulownia and apple trees. Based on a detailed analysis of the necessary investment costs associated with the resumption of production and the prediction of sales of produced Paulownia and apple trees, the article presents a quantification of economic payback time from the proposed three options for resumption of crop production in the agricultural brownfield. Based on clearly identified determinants of decision-making on the optimal possibility of the revitalization of agricultural brownfield in interaction with the evaluation of the so-called weighted sum (multicriteria decision-making method), the article concludes by pointing out the effective possibility of resuming crop production in the revitalized area of the agricultural brownfield. The results revealed that the growth of Paulownia for the production of biomass is the best method of agricultural brownfield remediation.

Impact of external influence on unilateral improvements in the graph model for conflict resolution

A novel method is presented to model and analyze the influence exerted by external stakeholders within the graph model for conflict resolution (GMCR) framework. The unilateral improvement possibility is constructed in order to measure the impact of external influence on unilateral improvement. The unilateral improvements by decision makers (DMs) in the traditional GMCR are modified by the unilateral improvement possibility. Four stability concepts—Nash stability, general metarationality, symmetric metarationality, and sequential stability—are defined under the structure of unilateral improvement based on possibility. Finally, the new method is applied to a real-world conflict over brownfield remediation at the Changzhou Foreign Languages School located in the City of Changzhou, Province of Jiangsu, China, to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the method developed.

Identifying urban candidate brownfield sites using multi-source data: The case of Changchun City, China

Over the past 40 years, brownfield remediation has become an important issue of urban economic transition and revival, providing many social, economic, and environmental benefits to cities. Identifying urban candidate brownfield sites is an essential task of brownfield projects, but few attempts have been made to create a comprehensive dataset of their spatial distribution in China. This paper presents a new method for identifying urban candidate brownfield sites using multi-source data, including current urban land use maps, Baidu heat maps, business data, and Baidu street view. Our method for identifying urban candidate brownfield sites consists of four steps: (1) preparing and processing the basic data while screening potential contaminated sites using a current urban land use map, mapping the geographical coordinates of operating and non-operating businesses, and calculating the Baidu heat index; (2) integrating spatial multi-source data; (3) screening the intensity of use and the degree of abandonment for suspected sites in Baidu street view; and (4) conducting field surveys. The method was proposed and tested using a case study in the central region of Changchun, China, and 146 candidate brownfield sites were identified. The new data that we collected and our methodology can be used as quantitative and universally applicable tools within a discriminant analytical model framework, for urban geography, urban design, and landscape architecture. The resulting maps for urban candidate brownfields could also provide local government agencies with a technical reference for brownfield remediation.

Dredged Material Decision Tool (DMDT) for Sustainable Beneficial Reuse Applications

The Dredged Material Decision Tool (DMDT) was developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to allow project managers, stakeholders, and communities to quantify environmental, economic, and social considerations of using dredged material for beneficial purposes. Dredged material may be disposed in a confined disposal facility (CDF); however, this option is unfavorable because of the finite capacity problems these facilities pose. A more sustainable option is to use dredged materials beneficially such as construction material, for habitat restoration, or for brownfield remediation projects. This study demonstrates the applicability of the DMDT to three relevant candidate projects: (1) Dog Beach, Greenwood, and Lee Street Beaches (Evanston, IL, USA); (2) New York-New Jersey Harbor (New York/New Jersey); and (3) Poplar Island (Chesapeake Bay). The DMDT requires the project information and then completion of worksheets with each criteria (biophysical environment, economic, governance, social, and built environment) ranked, weighed, and scored. The DMDT is applied for all potential alternatives and the results are then analyzed to select the best beneficial reuse alternative. It was found that for the beaches in Evanston, the most beneficial option was on-beach placement with hydraulic dredging. The best option for the New Jersey Harbor was found to be using for brownfield and landfill remediation. The best option for Poplar Island was the lateral and vertical expansion of 50% uplands and 50% wetlands. Overall, DMDT is found to be a valuable tool to facilitate the evaluation of multi-criteria based on the project-specific data and help select the best beneficial use alternative for the dredged material.

A Conceptual Model of Phytoremediation with Spontaneous Invasive Plants in Brownfield Remediation: A Case in Massachusetts, USA

A Conceptual Model of Phytoremediation with Spontaneous Invasive Plants in Brownfield Remediation: A Case in Massachusetts, USA

Residential Mobility, Brownfield Remediation, and Environmental Gentrification in Chicago

Residential Mobility, Brownfield Remediation, and Environmental Gentrification in Chicago

Variation in brownfield reuse of derelict agricultural premises in diverse rural spaces

Urban brownfield remediation and reclamation have attracted much attention, but rural spaces do not receive the same focus and suffer from the effects these sites have on society, the economy, and land. The objective of this study is to evaluate how social, economic, and environmental features affect agricultural brownfield regeneration between 2004 and 2018 through two case study regions in the southern Czech Republic. In 1221 muncipalties where a communist agricultural cooperative or a state farm operated in 1989, agricultural brownfields existed in 832 of the municipalities in 2004. A multinomial non-parametric regression method and CCA ordination revealed ties between agricultural brownfield reclamation and the characteristics of those municipalities. This shows a deep and before unknown consequence of agricultural brownfield regeneration. There was not a relationship between the size of an agricultural premise and its probability of being an agricultural brownfield. Larger agricultural brownfields are more likely to be (at least partially) regenerated. Lower agrcultural land costs drove the higher probability that a brownfield was reused between 2004 and 2018. Housing reuses more frequently occur in areas with low agricultural land costs. Similarly, agricultural reuses of those derelict premises is more likely in areas with a low price of agricultural land. However, larger municipalities did not experience a reclamation of their agricultural brownfields, and long-term brownfields may occur alongside any other type of reclaimed land.

Rebuilding a community ‘centre’ under free-market pressure: the post-socialist experience with local brownfield management

ABSTRACT In post-socialist countries, recycling urban spaces is one of the key tasks for local authorities to address. While large-scale abandoned places received the required attention, small-scale brownfields have been omitted from redevelopment strategies. Using transition theory on the effects of globalization on communities and the theory of action fields, the paper aims to increase knowledge about the ways in which local actors strive to reach the goals of post-socialist non-prime brownfield remediation. In the example of a local redevelopment project (in Brno, Czech Republic), the study focuses on the options available to public authorities in developing a civic centre against free-market pressures. The results illustrate the hierarchical limits of territorial governance in post-socialist cities which contribute to the growing imbalance between economic and social capital in the brownfield management. The effects of globalization hinder the process of creating a field of strategic action between post-socialist local authorities and free-market forces.

Spatial Unevenness of Formation, Remediation and Persistence of Post-Agricultural Brownfields

The fall of the Iron Curtain created a vacuum upon which large-scale collectivized agriculture was largely abandoned. Post-agricultural brownfields emerge in multiple manners across national, regional and local levels. While these sites remain rarely explored, we aimed to better understand the spatial consequences of the formation, persistence and reuse of these sites. The regions of South Bohemia and South Moravia in the Czech Republic are used to show the location of post-agricultural brownfields identified in 2004 through 2018. Using Global Moran’s I test we have found that post-agricultural brownfields existing in 2004, long-term brownfields in 2018 and brownfields established between 2004 and 2018 are spatially clustered, but remediated brownfields between 2004 and 2018 are not. Next, the Anselin’s Local Moran’s I test identified where the spatial clusters exist. The clusters identified were examined for differences in their social, economic and environmental development by the means of logistic regression. The results show that the brownfields initially identified in 2004 are concentrated in regions with lower quality agricultural land while simultaneously located in the hinterlands of regional urban centers. In contrast, peripheral regions most often contained long-term brownfields. Brownfield sites identified after 2004 occurred in regions with higher agricultural quality of land and where corn usually grows.

Brownfield Reuse Investment as a Tool for Limiting the Territorial Expansion of Settlements in Bulgaria

The goal set by the author of the study is to consider the good European practices in the remediation and reuse of Brownfields and on that basis to outline the possibilities for the use of these practices in Bulgaria in order to limit the territorial expansion of settlements (populated places) at the expense of non-urbanized areas. The specific character of the issue under study determines the following research methods as most suitable: the document analysis method; the comparison method; the methods of analysis and synthesis. There are laid down the possibilities for Brownfield reuse in Bulgaria. The reuse of the so-called brownfields combines the advantages of the environmental, the economic and the social development as it results in a more sustainable development of settlements, as well as in reduced reclamation and building up of green areas and non-urbanized land for the erection of new buildings and the development of infrastructure (social as well as technical).

Remediation of brownfields contaminated by organic compounds and heavy metals: a bench-scale test of a sulfur/vermiculite sorbent for mercury vapor removal.

In this study, we report for the first time a novel type of sorbent that can be used for mercury adsorption from the air-based off-gasses-vermiculite impregnated with alkali polysulfides and thiosulfates. In contrast to other sorbents, vermiculite exhibits superior thermal stability in air and low adsorption capacity for organic vapors. This allows for a more favorable design of the soil remediation unit-direct coupling of thermal desorber with catalytic oxidizer using air as a carrier gas. In the bench-scale test at 180 °C, the sulfur/vermiculite sorbent exhibited significantly higher efficiency for the adsorption of mercury vapor from the off-gasses than the commercial sulfur/activated carbon sorbent at its highest operating temperature (120 °C). The average mercury concentration in the adsorber off-gas decreased from 1.634 mg/m3for the sulfur/activated carbon to 0.008 mg/m3 achieved with impregnated vermiculite. The total concentration of organic compounds in the soil after thermal desorption was below the detection limit of the employed analytical method.