Hydrogeologic modeling for permeable reactive barriers.

The permeable reactive barrier technology for in situ treatment of chlorinated solvents and other groundwater contaminants is becoming increasingly popular. Field scale implementation of this and other in situ technologies requires careful design based on the site-specific hydrogeology and contaminant plume characteristics. Groundwater flow modeling is an important tool in understanding the hydraulic behavior of the site and optimizing the reactive barrier design. A combination of groundwater flow modeling and particle tracking techniques was used to illustrate the effect of hydraulic conductivity of the aquifer and reactive media on key permeable barrier design parameters, such as the capture zone width, residence time, flow velocity, and discharge. Similar techniques were used to illustrate the modeling approach for design of different configurations of reactive barriers in homogeneous and heterogeneous settings.     

Results of the reactant sand-fracking pilot test and implications for the in situ remediation of chlorinated VOCs and metals in deep and fractured bedrock aquifers.

Permeable reactive barriers (PRBs), such as the Waterloo Funnel and Gate System, first implemented at Canadian Forces Borden facility in 1992, are a passive remediation technology capable of controlling the migration of, and treating contaminated groundwater in situ. Most of the PRBs installed to date have been shallow installations created by backfilling sheet-pile shored excavations with iron filing reactive media. More recently continuous trenchers [R. Puls, Installation of permeable reactive barriers using continuous trenching equipment, Proceedings of the RTDF Permeable Barriers Work Group, Virginia Beach, VA, September 1997] and Caissons [J. Vogan, Caisson installation of a pilot scale, permeable reactive barrier in situ treatment zone at the Sommersworth Landfill, NH, Presented to the RTDF Permeable Barriers Work Group, Alexandria, VA, April 1996], and vertical fracturing emplacements [G. Hocking, Vertical hydraulic fracture emplacement of permeable reactive barriers, Progress Report delivered to the Permeable Reactive Barriers Workgroup of the Remedial Technology Development Forum, Beaverton, OR, April 1998] have been used to create reactive barriers in soil. None of the prior methods are capable of adequately addressing groundwater contamination in deep and fractured bedrock aquifers. The purpose of the RSF pilot study was to install reactive media into an impacted bedrock aquifer, and to evaluate the effectiveness of in situ treatment of chlorinated volatile organic compounds (CVOCs) and metals in that type of aquifer. Three discrete fractures were identified and treated and were subjected to testing before and after treatment. Between 300 and 1700 lb. of 1 mm diameter reactive proppants were injected into each zone to facilitate treatment. Monitoring data obtained from adjacent observation wells verified that fracking fluids reached at least 42 ft from the treatment well following hydrofracturing. The concentrations of many of the CVOCs decreased up to 98% based on the results of pre- and post-RSF treatment analyses. Consistent with other research, concentrations of CVOCs were noted to decrease including trichloroethene (TCE), tetrachloroethene (PCE), 1,1,1-trichloroethane (1,1,1-TCA), 1, 1-dichloroethane (1,1-DCA), and 1,1-dichloroethene (1,1-DCE) and increases were noted in concentrations of cis-1,2-dichloroethene (cis-1,2-DCE) and chloroform suggesting that the rate of transformation of the parent compounds to these daughter products is higher than the rate of destruction of the daughter products. The RSF pilot study demonstrated that: (1) zero valent iron foam proppants have the physical and chemical properties necessary to effectively treat CVOCs and metals in groundwater when inserted under high pressures into fractured bedrock. (2) Iron foam reactive media can be placed in bedrock using high pressure hydraulic fracturing equipment and polysaccharide viscosifiers. (3) The extent of the treatment can be monitored in situ using tracers and pressure transducers. (4) Well capacity is increased by improving hydraulic conductivity through hydraulic fracturing and proppant injection. The approximate cost of all of the effort expended in the pilot study was about US$200,000. Full-scale implementations are projected to cost between US$100,000 and US$1,000,000 and would depend on site specific conditions such as the extent and level of impacted groundwater requiring treatment. This technology can potentially be implemented to create treatment zones for the passive treatment of CVOC and metal impacted groundwater in fractured rock aquifers offering a cost-effective alternative to a pump and treat forever scenario.     

Pilot plant experiences using physical and biological treatment steps for the remediation of groundwater from a former MGP site

The production of manufactured gas at a site in Vienna, Austria led to the contamination of soil and groundwater with various pollutants including PAHs, hydrocarbons, phenols, BTEX, and cyanide. The site needs to be remediated to alleviate potential impacts to the environment. The chosen remediation concept includes the excavation of the core contaminated site and the setup of a hydraulic barrier to protect the surrounding aquifer. The extracted groundwater will be treated on-site. To design the foreseen pump-and-treat system, a pilot-scale plant was built and operated for 6 months. The scope of the present study was to test the effectiveness of different process steps, which included an aerated sedimentation basin, a submerged fixed film reactor (SFFR), a multi-media filter, and an activated carbon filter. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) was 7.0 h during normal flow conditions and 3.5h during high flow conditions. The treatment system was effective in reducing the various organic and inorganic pollutants in the pumped groundwater. However, it was also demonstrated that appropriate pre-treatment was essential to overcome problems with clogging due to precipitation of tar and sulfur compounds. The reduction of the typical contaminants, PAHs and BTEX, was more than 99.8%. All water quality parameters after treatment were below the Austrian legal requirements for discharge into public water bodies.     

Effect of temperature on the release of hexadecane from soil by thermal treatment

A natural organic soil (2.5% of total organic carbon) was artificially contaminated with hexadecane, and thermally treated under an inert medium up to different final temperatures (150-800 degrees C) for 30 min to simulate ex situ thermal process conditions. The experiments were conducted using a complete organic soil, instead of the clays or isolated soil fractions that are commonly used. Neat and contaminated samples were separately heated to understand the impact of the soil itself and the contaminant in the release of volatiles. The soil quality as well as the quality and amount of volatile compounds generated during the process were monitored. More than 80-88% of the initial hexadecane content in the soil matrix was recovered in liquids traps after the thermal treatment, therefore the contaminant could be recovered for further recycling. The high amount of hexadecane collected without suffering chemical transformations indicated that the main mechanism for the hexadecane removal was evaporation. The analysis of the light gases released from contaminated samples indicated negligible or null hexadecane pyrolysis reaction rates, confirming that the evaporation/desorption of the contaminant are the processes that governed the removal of the contaminant from the soil. For the soil tested, of a relatively low surface area, good removal efficiencies (higher than 99.9%) were detected at about 300 degrees C, being higher temperatures not necessary to significantly improve the contamination removal.     

Combined slurry and solid-phase bioremediation of diesel contaminated soils

This work investigates, at a laboratory and pilot-scale, the influence of various operating parameters on the combined slurry and solid-phase bioremediation technique for a diesel contaminated soil. For slurry-phase bioreactors (SPB), it has been found that, as far as famine conditions are attained at the end of the react cycle, a low hydraulic retention time and a low slurry recycle ratio allows for a better utilization of the reactor volume. A 7-day slurry-phase bioreactor treatment has been shown to provide enough contaminant removal allowing the soil drawn from the slurry-phase bioreactors to be fed effectively to the solid-phase bioreactors (SoPB) for completing the soil cleanup. However, an important improvement of the solid-phase bioreactor performance has been found using soil additives, namely sand and surfactants. While the first soil additive improves pile porosity and consequently oxygen diffusion, the latter increases contaminant bioavailability.     

Efficiency of wave impeding barrier in pipeline construction under earthquake excitation using nonlinear finite element analysis

Earthquakes have caused colossal casualties and severe damages to engineering structures and especially leading to substantial economic loss to the underground structures and/or infrastructures. Pipelines are one of most important component of lifeline engineering. For instance, the Southern Caucasus- Eastern Turkey energy corridors are formed by several key pipelines carrying crude oil and natural gas from Azerbaijan, via Georgia, to world markets through Mediterranean Sea. Many project accomplished recently and construction of new corridors are still going on. They should be protected from earthquake disaster especially when they pass through high seismicity zones. The installation of wave impeding barriers (WIB) below the vulnerable infrastructures as pipelines established in soft soil can be used to reduce the effect of the earthquake induced ground borne vibrations. In this paper, a WIB as artificial bedrock based on the cut-off frequency of a soil layer over bedrock is proposed as isolation measurement in order to mitigate the dynamic response of the buried pipelines under earthquake strong ground motion. The computational simulation of the wave propagation problem is directly achieved by employing nonlinear 2D finite element modelling for prediction of screening performance of WIB on the dynamic response of vibrating coupled soil-pipeline system. Energy absorbing boundaries along the truncated interfaces of the unbounded nature of the underlying soil media are implemented in the time domain along with Newmark’s integration. An extensive parametric investigation and systematic computations are performed with different controlling parameters. The obtained numerical results point out that WIB can be very promising as an isolator to protect pipelines when they establish for a certain depth.     

Leakage characteristics of the glass fabric composite barriers of LNG ships

The consumption of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) has recently increased due to a substantial rise in the price of petroleum. One of the major carriers of LNG is the LNG ships whose containment systems are composed of corrugated stainless steel plates (primary barriers) and glass fabric composite sandwich constructions (secondary barriers). The primary barriers are constructed by welding many corrugated thin stainless steel plates to reduce thermal stress, while the secondary barriers are constructed by adhesively bonding glass fabric composite sandwich constructions.One of the key technologies for the secondary barriers is to thoroughly seal the adhesive joining area, which can retard LNG leakage when the primary barriers are failed. The sealing quality of the adhesive joint is dependent on the wetting characteristics between the sandwich constructions and adhesive, which is in turn dependent on the curing cycle for the adhesive.In this work, a new method to measure the gas leakage of adhesively bonded joint was devised. The adhesive joint specimens were prepared under several different curing cycles to investigate the impregnation of adhesive into the glass fabric composite. Also, the thermal residual stress in the adhesive joint was estimated by the double strip deformation experiment. Finally, an improved curing method was developed with high tightness of the secondary barriers without increase of thermal residual stress.     

The influence of vadose zone conditions on groundwater pollution: Part I: Basic principles and static conditions

The significance of the vadose soil zone (i.e., above a water table) is of the utmost importance in groundwater pollution problems. Much of this zone is unsaturated, such that fluid movement and contaminant attenuation conditions are favorable for mitigation of aquifer pollution. In this paper, the basic principles of moisture retention and the implications for leachate control are described in a state-of-the-art format.To illustrate the use of these concepts six generalized examples are presented. They cover a wide range of practical situations, including:? vadose zone storage? land treatment of wastewater and sludges? waste dewatering? hydrocarbon spill storage? capillary break situations? air and water drainage under linersSince this paper treats only the static condition, a companion paper will be offered shortly dealing with leachate flow and seepage in a wide range of applications.     

Modelling the swelling and osmotic properties of clay soils. Part II: The physical approach

The increasing use of clays, with a high montmorillonite content in their mineralogical composition, as hydraulic and contaminant barriers for landfill and soil remediation applications needs to be supported by an adequate theoretical modelling of the mechanical behaviour and transport properties, in order to assess the expected performances in the long term. The framework of the thermodynamics of irreversible processes was adopted in a companion paper to derive phenomenological constitutive equations for a clay soil characterised by swelling and osmotic phenomena, without specifying any of the physical mechanisms that occur at the pore scale. In this paper, a physical approach is proposed in order to provide an interpretation of the phenomenological parameters, obtained from laboratory tests. The soil structure is assumed to be constituted by montmorillonite lamellae, that can be aggregated to form the so-called tactoids, which have a slit-like geometry. Chemical equilibrium is assumed to be established between the bulk electrolyte solution and the internal pore solution at the macroscopic scale, so that the hydraulic pressure and ion concentrations can be evaluated through the Donnan equations. Water and ion transport is described at the pore scale through the generalised Navier–Stokes equation and the generalised Nernst–Planck equations, respectively. Mechanical behaviour is modelled taking into account intergranular contact stresses. The approach is applied to interpret literature experimental results, showing how it can reduce the number of tests that need to be carried out and provide insight into the physical mechanisms that determine the observed phenomena.     

Effects of aquifer heterogeneity and reaction mechanism uncertainty on a reactive barrier.

This paper addresses impacts of aquifer heterogeneity and reaction mechanism uncertainty on permeable reactive barrier (PRB) performance and describes modeling tools and preliminary guidelines for risk-based design of reactive barriers at heterogeneous sites. A braided stream aquifer was generated stochastically, using a fixed correlation structure and four levels of variability in the hydraulic conductivity field. A vertical, homogeneous barrier was placed in the aquifer. Based on a deterministic design, the size of the PRB for uniform conditions was considered conservative (factor of safety=3.3). Monte Carlo simulation was used to model cis 1,2-DCE reduction by iron metal with uncertainty in the reaction mechanism rate constants. These results were combined with flow and particle tracking results to predict the spatial distribution and flow-averaged concentrations of cis 1,2-DCE and vinyl chloride at the exit face of the PRB. Evaluated on a risk basis, the deterministic design method was found to be unconservative for more heterogeneous aquifers. Uncertainty in the reaction mechanism accentuated the negative effects of aquifer heterogeneity. Several compensating factors that may reduce the vulnerability of reactive barriers to aquifer heterogeneity are discussed.     

Factors affecting air sparging remediation systems using field data and numerical simulations

Field data from five air sparging sites were used to assess the effect of several soil, contaminant, and air sparging system factors on the removal time and associated costs required to reach specified clean-up criteria. Numerical simulations were also performed to better assess the field data and to expand the data sets beyond the five field sites. Ten factors were selected and evaluated individually over a range of values based on information from practitioners and the literature. Trends in removal time and removal cost to reach a specified clean-up criterion were analyzed to ascertain the conditions controlling contaminant removal with variations in each factors' value. A linear sensitivity equation was used to quantify system dynamics controlling the observed contaminant removal trends for each factor. Factors found most critical across all field sites in terms of removal time and/or cost were contaminant type, sparge pulsing schedule, number of wells, maximum biodecay rate, total soil porosity, and aquifer organic carbon content. Factors showing moderate to low effect included the depth of the sparge point below the water table, air injection rate/pressure, horizontal air conductivity, and anisotropy ratio. At each field site, subsurface coverage of sparged air, sparged air residence time, contaminant equilibrium in the system, contaminant phase distribution, oxygen availability to microbes, and contaminant volatility seem to control the system responses and were affected by one or more of the 10 factors evaluated.     

Electrokinetic remediation of plutonium-contaminated nuclear site wastes: results from a pilot-scale on-site trial

This paper examines the field-scale application of a novel low-energy electrokinetic technique for the remediation of plutonium-contaminated nuclear site soils, using soil wastes from the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) Aldermaston site, Berkshire, UK as a test medium. Soils and sediments with varying composition, contaminated with Pu through historical site operations, were electrokinetically treated at laboratory-scale with and without various soil pre-conditioning agents. Results from these bench-scale trials were used to inform a larger on-site remediation trial, using an adapted containment pack with battery power supply. 2.4 m(3) (ca. 4t onnes) of Pu-contaminated soil was treated for 60 days at a power consumption of 33 kWh/m(3), and then destructively sampled. Radiochemical data indicate mobilisation of Pu in the treated soil, and migration (probably as a negatively charged Pu-citrate complex) towards the anodic compartment of the treatment cell. Soil in the cathodic zone of the treatment unit was remediated to a level below free-release disposal thresholds (1.7 Bq/g, or <0.4 Bq/g above background activities). The data show the potential of this method as a low-cost, on-site tool for remediation of radioactively contaminated soils and wastes which can be operated remotely on working sites, with minimal disruption to site infrastructure or operations.     

In situ restoration techniques for aquifers contaminated with hazardous wastes

Improper disposal of hazardous wastes is a threat to the nation's ground water supply. Methods which prevent contamination are probably the most effective techniques to protect ground water. Once contamination problems occur, there are a number of in situ techniques that can be used to cleanse the ground water and at least partially restore the aquifer. Before any treatment program can be implemented, a thorough investigation of the hydrogeology and contamination problems of the site must be made. Plume management techniques such as barriers to ground water flow or hydrodynamic control can be effective when properly installed. One of the options used frequently is to remove the contaminated material to a secure site; while this cleans up the contaminated site, the material is not treated and the potential for contamination of the second site exists. Chemical and physical treatment techniques include processes such as neutralization, chemical reaction, extraction and immobilization. Biological techniques for in situ treatment generally involve enhancing the degradative capacity of the indigenous microflora or the addition of organisms acclimated to degrade the contaminants. Combinations of chemical and biological processes are often effective. Aquifer restoration is likely to be costly, time-consuming, and often only partially effective.     

Combined simulation?experimental approach to power cable thermal loading assessment

The performance of an underground transmission and distribution system is critically influenced by the thermal properties of the surrounding medium, as well as the thermal properties of the cable itself. The thermal behaviour of the cable is strongly dependent on the loading conditions and thermal parameters of the cable materials as well as the thermal characteristics of the surrounding soil, ambient environment and boundary conditions. A combined experimental- computational investigation is performed to examine the thermal parameters which may influence the performance of the underground cable. First, the thermal specification of the soil was tested by simulating a high temperature gradient along the body of the tested sample enclosed by a heat source-heat sink pair facing each other. In the second part, the 15 kV XLPE underground power cable is energised as a heat source as in the actual case. The thermal field at different spots and loadings was investigated using a developed full-size experimental setup to monitor the thermal behaviour of the underground cables, surrounding soil and boundaries phenomena (heat coefficient losses at the convective boundaries and the heat losses at the isolated boundaries). The proposed combined finite-element-gradient optimisation method is used to estimate the cable thermal parameters. This is based on matching the computational simulation of the experimental model based on finite element to that obtained from the experimental measurements.     

核电厂安全壳结构模型碳纤维布加固试验研究

核电站安全壳是防止核泄漏的最后安全屏障。该文基于某核电厂预应力安全壳的1：10结构模型,开展试验研究。利用内部水压来模拟事故中安全壳的压力,试验通过数百个传感器和数据采集系统详细测得安全壳各部位的受力过程。在试验中,先加载至结构破坏,然后采用外包碳纤维布的方式进行加固并再次加载试验。在ANSYS中建立了安全壳模型的有限元模型进行分析,试验和计算结果表明CFRP加固能够显著提高安全壳结构的承压能力,同时也能有效控制安全壳结构的变形和裂缝发展。有限元计算分析结果与试验结果吻合良好,能够用来预测碳纤维布加固后结构的表现。     

Design equations for soil aeration via bioventing

Biodegradation enhanced by aeration through soil venting, a technique commonly referred to as bioventing, is gaining in popularity as a means for in situ remediation of soils contaminated with organic compounds. The effectiveness of this technique at a particular site is dependent upon achieving and maintaining sufficient oxygen levels in the contaminated soil zones to support aerobic biodegradation. This paper uses analytic and numerical models of the gas flow in soil surrounding vents with simplified biodegradation relationships to predict the oxygen profiles in the soil under given site properties and operating conditions. The results may be used to decide whether bioventing is a feasible remediation technique at a particular site and to investigate the effects of vent placement and flow rate upon performance.     

Effect of groundwater flow on remediation of dissolved-phase VOC contamination using air sparging

This paper presents two-dimensional laboratory experiments performed to study how groundwater flow may affect the injected air zone of influence and remedial performance, and how injected air may alter subsurface groundwater flow and contaminant migration during in situ air sparging. Tests were performed by subjecting uniform sand profiles contaminated with dissolved-phase benzene to a hydraulic gradient and two different air flow rates. The results of the tests were compared to a test subjected to a similar air flow rate but a static groundwater condition. The test results revealed that the size and shape of the zone of influence were negligibly affected by groundwater flow, and as a result, similar rates of contaminant removal were realized within the zone of influence with and without groundwater flow. The air flow, however, reduced the hydraulic conductivity within the zone of influence, reducing groundwater flow and subsequent downgradient contaminant migration. The use of a higher air flow rate further reduced the hydraulic conductivity and decreased groundwater flow and contaminant migration. Overall, this study demonstrated that air sparging may be effectively implemented to intercept and treat a migrating contaminant plume.     

Effect of elemental redistribution on the failure of centrifugally cast HK40 alloy

An HK40 steam-reforming tube that ruptured after 35,000 h of operation was analyzed to identify the causes of failure. Analysis of the fracture surface and cross sections indicated extensive and localized corrosion associated with the primary crack site. The fracture surface showed three distinct types of propagation morphology at the inner, middle, and outer portions of the pipe. Severe localized corrosion at interdendritic grain boundaries was detected at the inner pipe, while at the middle, cracks propagated transgranularly along primary carbides. Elemental mapping and line profiles showed a correlation between rupture behavior and the elemental segregation of chromium, manganese, carbon, and silicon at the inner and middle regions. Sulfur, encountered as a contaminant in natural gas, was also detected at these regions. Based on the characteristics exhibited by the fracture surface, failure was attributed to oxidation and fracture enhanced by the elemental redistribution of chromium, carbon, manganese, nickel, and silicon.     

A pilot study for the selection of a bioreactor for remediation of groundwater from a coal tar contaminated site.

Coal tars in soil at a gasworks site in South Eastern Australia led to groundwater contamination with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), mono-aromatic compounds (BTEX) and phenols. The scope of the study included testwork in laboratory scale bioreactors and evaluation of available commercial groundwater treatment units. Two bioreactor configurations, a submerged fixed film reactor (SFFR) and a fluidized bed bioreactor (FBR) were effective, with high efficiencies of contaminant removal (typically >90%) over a range of hydraulic retention times (HRT) (3-29 h). Specifically, concentrations of total PAH, naphthalene, pyrene and total phenols in the feedstock and effluent of the SFFR were 123, 60, 51, 1.38 and 0.004, 0.001, 0.004, 0.1mg/l, respectively. The FBR was only marginally less effective than the SFFR for the same groundwater contaminants. Discharge to sewer was the most appropriate end use for the effluent. SFFRs are regarded as being simpler in design and operation, and a commercially available unit has been identified which would be suitable for treating small volumes (<10 m(3) per day) of contaminated water collected at an interception trench at the site.     

Compacted artificially cemented soil-acid leachate contaminant interactions: breakthrough curves and transport parameters

The transport of contaminants through compacted artificially cemented soil subjected to acid leachate contaminant percolation was analyzed by means of laboratory column tests. The effect of cement content, degree of acidity and hydraulic gradient were evaluated after permeation of several pore volumes of acid leachate contaminant flow through the soil. The pH, electric conductivity and solute breakthrough curves were considered throughout the study. The results showed that the increase of cement content increases the solute pore volumes needed before breakthrough occurred. An increase of the degree of acidity of the percolate and of the hydraulic gradient cause a reduction in the pore volumes needed before breakthrough occurred. The larger the soil cement content, the longer the time required to reach maximum effluent solute concentration. The hydraulic conductivity slightly increased due to cement addition and reduced with increasing degree of acidity of the percolate. Finally, it is possible to state that cement addition to the soil was responsible for increasing retardation coefficient (R) and distribution coefficient (k_d) values, meaning that the artificially cemented soils have higher capability to retard the propagation of the contamination and amplified affinity with dissolved acid contaminant.