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Environmental Laboratories/ SBP Technologies’ UVB Vacuum Vaporization Well Process

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Environmental Laboratories/ SBP Technologies’ UVB Vacuum Vaporization Well Process (60k)


Abstract

The UVB process was developed by IEG Technologie GmbH of Germany and licensed in the eastern U.S. by Environmental Laboratories, Inc. (ELI) and SBP Technologies, Inc. (SBP). A modified microbial system employing an in-well biofilter was demonstrated under the SITE Program at the Sweden-3 Chapman landfill in Sweden, New York, along with the ENSR/Larsen Biovault technology and the R. E. Wright Environmental, Inc. In Situ Bioventing System, as part of a Multi-Vendor Bioremediation Demonstration. A single wide bore UVB-400 well (Vacuum Vaporization Well) equipped with a biofilter was used in the demonstration. Groundwater was circulated through the well and is returned, presumably with an increased microbial population, to the saturated zone for further in situ biodegradation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). An aboveground blower assists circulation of air, provides oxygen for biodegradation, and strips volatiles from the vadose zone. Extracted volatiles were treated by an ex situ vapor phase biofilter followed by activated carbon. The developers estimated that the single well would influence a soil volume of approximately 1000 yd 3 . A primary objective of the demonstration was to determine the effectiveness of the UVB Process in reducing the concentrations of six target VOCs in the vadose zone soil to below New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) Soil Cleanup Criteria (acetone: 0.2 ppm, methyl ethyl ketone: 0.6 ppm, 4-methyl-2- pentanone: 2 ppm, cis-1,2-dichloroethene: 0.6 ppm, trichloroethene: 1.5 ppm, and tetrachloroethene: 2.5 ppm). ELI/SBP expected that 90% of the soil samples collected from the vadose zone of the 50 ft x 50 ft test area would meet the NYSDEC Criteria for the six target contaminants after six months (one season) of treatment. A second primary objective was to evaluate the developers’ claim that biodegradation would be the dominant mechanism of contaminant removal, but all participants agreed that this claim could only be evaluated qualitatively because of limitations in the sampling procedures. Assessing the effectiveness of the process in reducing groundwater contamination by VOCs was a secondary objective of the study. Because of the time required to establish the convection loop coupled with operational and site problems, the investigation was extended from 5.5 months to 14 months. After 5.5 months, only 65% of approximately 50 soil samples from both vadose and saturated zones met the NYSDEC Criteria, and only 70% met the Criteria after 14 months. Nevertheless, significant removal of the ketones appeared to take place over the 14-month study. Analytical results and other observations suggest that both biodegradation and stripping were important mechanisms for VOC removal from the soil. Groundwater concentrations of VOCs also decreased over time, but neither the extent of removal nor the removal mechanism could be ascertained from the demonstration data.


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Posted November 24, 1999

 

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