A NOVEL APPROACH TO REMEDIATING SMALL, MULTIPLE LNAPL PLUMES

摘要

Due to fuel overfilling problems that occur at most of the major airports, sporadic light nonaqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) plumes (approximately 20 meters by 30 meters in size) are generally found near fuel hydrant or fuel dispenser areas. Typically, aircraft and ground vehicle operations continue 24 hours a day at these airports. The challenge is to remediate these scattered product plumes without any disruption to airport operations. To solve this challenging problem, URS has developed an innovative modified Fenton’s reagent process and an enhanced in situ bioremediation process to remediate these scattered LNAPL plumes in a timely and cost-efficient manner with minimal disruption to airport operations, while meeting regulatory requirements. Extensive bench-/ pilot-scale and full-scale tests have demonstrated the effectiveness of these processes at the airport sites. The proposed process is capable of remediating fuel hydrocarbons such as gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel, waste oils, etc. that contain various levels of MTBE, BTEX, and some PAHs. This approach also offers nonintrusive in situ soil and groundwater remediation solutions that can be easily applied to truck and bus terminals, rail terminals, service stations, and refining and manufacturing facilities. To implement the modified Fenton’s reagent process or enhanced in situ bioremediation programs, URS, in cooperation with American Airlines (AA), designed and built a Mobile Environmental Equipment Trailer (MEET) that could provide up to five different methods of remediation, such as LNAPL recovery, air sparging/SVE, surfactant-aided enhanced bioremediation, bioventing, and modified Fenton’s reagent process, to treat the site contamination problems. The trailer provides mobility, flexibility, and versatility in remediating the site. This paper presents two case studies using this approach.