Lecture 10

Soil vapor extraction, air sparging,

and soil flushing
Air stripper in Acton, MA. It is installed on an Acton public supply well affected by the W.R. Grace Superfund Site.
Image courtesy of Peter Shanahan.
1,1-DCE Plume in Palo Alto, California
CONCENTRATION
OF 1,1-DCE

>10,000 ppb

>1000 ppb

>100 ppb

>10 ppb

Monitoring well
 Capture Zone Model
Limit of
Capture
Zone

Well
W3

Well
W6
Plume after Pump and Treat Starts
CONCENTRATION
OF 1,1-DCE

>1000 ppb

>100 ppb

>10 ppb

>1 ppb
 Concentrations in Withdrawal Wells
8000

7000

6000
1,1-DCE in W3
1,1,1-TCA in W3
Concentration (ug/L)

5000
1,1-DCE in W6
1,1,1-TCA in W6
4000

3000

2000

1000

0
12/15/1987 12/14/1988 12/15/1989 12/15/1990
 Concentrations in Withdrawal Wells
1000

900

800

700
Concentration (ug/L)

600

500

400

300

200

100

0
12/15/1987 12/14/1988 12/15/1989 12/15/1990

1,1-DCE in W3 1,1,1-TCA in W3
1,1-DCE in W6 1,1,1-TCA in W6
MCL for 1,1-DCE MCL for 1,1,1-TCA
 Concentrations in Pump and Treat Recovery Wells
at manufacturing facility, Hutchinson, Kansas

20000
Legend
Recovery Well 1
Recovery Well 2
16000
MCL for TCE - 5 ug/L
Concentration of TCE (ug/L)

12000

8000

4000

6/1/93 1/1/94 6/1/94 1/1/95 6/1/95

1200
Concentration of TCE (ug/L)

800

400

6/1/93 1/1/94 6/1/94 1/1/95 6/1/95

Historical Recognition of Limitations of Pump & Treat

1989 – Articles in Ground Water and ES&T question

pump and treat remediation
1989 – EPA review finds only 1 out of 19 systems
reached cleanup goals
1991 – EPA holds seminars on DNAPLs
1992 – EPA issues “Estimating Potential for DNAPLs
at Superfund Sites”
1993 – EPA issues “Technical Impracticability”
guidance
1994 – National Research Council study finds 69 out
of 77 systems did not reach cleanup
Source: U.S. EPA, 2002. Groundwater Remedies Selected at Superfund Sites. Report No. EPA-542-R-01-022. Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. January 2002.
Source: U.S. EPA, 2002. Groundwater Remedies Selected at Superfund Sites. Report No. EPA-542-R-01-022. Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. January 2002.
 Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE)

Vacuum Pump

Vapor
Treatment
Unit Vacuum Gauge

Air/Water Separator Valve

Vapor Extraction Well

Vapor Flow Vapor Flow

Contaminated Soil

Adapted from: Hansen Web Design, February 23, 2003. Environews. U.S. Army at Badger Army Ammunition Plant. Baraboo, WI.
http://www.badgeraap.org/environews/envmarapr99g.htm. Accessed February 27, 2003.
 SVE System

See image at the Web site of Wayne Perry, Inc.,

Soil Vapor Extraction Systems,
http://www.wpinc.com/remedy/remedy30.html
Accessed May 11, 2004.

Source: Wayne Perry, Inc., undated. Soil Vapor Extraction Systems. Wayne Perry, Inc., Buena Park, CA. http://www.wpinc.com/remedy/remedy30.html. Accessed November 17, 2002.
 SVE Vapor Treatment

See image at the Web site of Environmental

Support Technologies, Inc., Vapor Extraction
Vent Testing and Treatment Systems,
http://www.est-inc.com/vapext.htm
Accessed May 11, 2004.
 SVE Instrumentation and Controls
See image at the Web site of Applied Hydrology
Associates, Inc., Soil Vapor Extraction, Air
Sparging, and Bioventing.
http://www.appliedhydrology.com/soil.htm
Accessed May 11, 2004.
 Paulsboro, NJ Oil Terminal
See image at the Web site of Environmental
Satellite, Paulsboro, New Jersey.
http://www.paulsboroterminal.com/agrave.asp?g
et=/Paulsboro_Pipeline/Fall_1999/gis_diagram
Accessed May 11, 2004.
 Paulsboro SVE System
See image at the Web site of Environmental
Satellite, Paulsboro, New Jersey.
http://www.paulsboroterminal.com/agrave.asp?g
et=/Paulsboro_Pipeline/Fall_2000/Treating_the_
Vapors
Accessed May 11, 2004.

BP Amoco, 2000. A Closer Look at Soil Vapor Extraction. Paulsboro Pipeline - Fall 2000. http://www.paulsboroterminal.com/agrave.asp?get=/Paulsboro_Pipeline/Fall_2000/Treating_the_Vapors
 SVE System - Paulsboro

See image at the Web site of Environmental

Satellite, Paulsboro, New Jersey.
http://www.paulsboroterminal.com/agrave.asp?g
et=/Paulsboro_Pipeline/Fall_2000/The_SVE_Sy
stem_at_the_Paulsboro_Terminal
Accessed May 11, 2004.

BP Amoco, 2000. A Closer Look at Soil Vapor Extraction. Paulsboro Pipeline - Fall 2000.
http://www.paulsboroterminal.com/agrave.asp?get=/Paulsboro_Pipeline/Fall_2000/The_SVE_System_at_the_Paulsboro_Terminal
 Air Sparging & SVE

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, undated. A Citizen’s Guide to Soil Vapor Extraction and Air Sparging. Technology Innovation Office, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. Washington D.C. http://www.epa.gov/swertio1/download/citizens/citsve.pdf. Accessed May 12, 2004.
Air Sparging
Concept Air Sparging Concept

Air

Air Injection Well

Radius of Influence (ROI)

Saturated Zone Vadose (Unsaturated) Zone

Adapted from: Sprague, Nicolle and Arnaud Delahay. Air Sparging. Groundwater Pollution Primer,
CE 4594: Groundwater and Soil Pollution. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia, 1998.
www.ce.vt.edu/.../tech/gwprimer/airsparg2/airsparg.html
 Moderate Air Injection

See Figure 7 in: Ji, W., A. Dahmani, D. P.

Ahlfeld, J. D. Lin and E. Hill, 1993.
"Laboratory study of air sparging: air flow
visualization." Ground Water Monitoring and
Remediation, Vol. 13, No. 4, Pp. 115-126.
High Air Injection – Uniform Medium

See Figure 8 in: Ji, W., A. Dahmani, D. P.

Ahlfeld, J. D. Lin and E. Hill, 1993.
"Laboratory study of air sparging: air flow
visualization." Ground Water Monitoring and
Remediation, Vol. 13, No. 4, Pp. 115-126.
High Air Injection – Mixed Medium

See Figure 11 in: Ji, W., A. Dahmani, D. P.

Ahlfeld, J. D. Lin and E. Hill, 1993.
"Laboratory study of air sparging: air flow
visualization." Ground Water Monitoring and
Remediation, Vol. 13, No. 4, Pp. 115-126.
 Stratified Medium Setup

See Figure 13 in: Ji, W., A. Dahmani, D. P.

Ahlfeld, J. D. Lin and E. Hill, 1993.
"Laboratory study of air sparging: air flow
visualization." Ground Water Monitoring and
Remediation, Vol. 13, No. 4, Pp. 115-126.
Moderate Air Injection – Stratified Medium

See Figure 16 in: Ji, W., A. Dahmani, D. P.

Ahlfeld, J. D. Lin and E. Hill, 1993.
"Laboratory study of air sparging: air flow
visualization." Ground Water Monitoring and
Remediation, Vol. 13, No. 4, Pp. 115-126.
 Air Sparging Microview
See Figure 7a in: Elder, C.
R. and C. H. Benson,
1999. "Air Channel
Formation, Size, Spacing,
and Tortuosity During Air
Sparging." Ground Water
Monitoring and
Remediation, Vol. 19, No.
3, Pp. 171.
Low pressure →
discontinuous air passage
See Figure 7b in: Elder, C.
R. and C. H. Benson,
1999. "Air Channel
Formation, Size, Spacing,
and Tortuosity During Air
Sparging." Ground Water
Monitoring and
Remediation, Vol. 19, No.
3, Pp. 171.
High pressure →
continuous air passage
 Air Sparging – Bubble Movement

See Figure 5 in: Roosevelt, S. E. and M. Y. Corapcioglu,

1998. "Air bubble migration in a granular porous medium:
Experimental studies." Water Resources Research, Vol.
34, No. 5, Pp. 1131-1142.
 Air Sparging Conceptual Models

See Figure 12 in: Clayton, W. S., 1998. "A Field and

Laboratory Investigation of Air Fingering During Air
Sparging." Ground Water Monitoring and Remediation,
Vol. 18, No. 3, Pp. 134-145.
 Woburn
Wells G&H
Superfund Site,
Massachusetts

Source: Environmental Protection Agency, Region 1,

Waste Site Cleanup & Reuse in New England,
http://www.epa.gov/ne/superfund/sites/wellsgh/42364_
TOC_Text.pdf. Accessed May 11, 2004.
 Collected Vapors
Topsoil
Sparging Air Backfilled
Treatment Trench
System
0

Groundwater Capture
Zone
Aerated Zone

25

Air Sparging
50 Well
Groundwater Extraction
Well Bedrock or Compacted
Till

75
0 50 100 150
 Pid Concentrations-Vapor Probes Inside Pilot Cell (Screened 0'-2')

Shallow Sparging Recovery Period

Test
100

40
Pid Concentration (total VOCs ppm-v)

80

Air Flow Rate (cfm)

30
60

20
40

20 10

0 0
7-1-94 21-1-94 4-2-94 18-2-94 4-3-94 18-3-94 1-4-94 15-4-94
Date

PID mean Sparging flow rate Vacuum flow rate

Deep Sparging Vacuum Step Test Comprehensive Sampling
 NP-1D, Groundwater-TCE
300
250
200
TCE (ug/L)

150
100
50 Baseline
0
20-10-93 17-1-94 21-1-94 07-2-94 15-2-94 21-2-94 09-3-94 Recovery Period

Date
Shallow Sparging Test

NP-2S, Groundwater-TCE Comprehensive Sampling

1500
TCE (ug/L)

1000

500

0
20-10-93 17-1-94 21-1-94 07-2-94 15-2-94 21-2-94 09-3-94
Date