Remediation Technique Holds Promise for Groundwater Cleanups

摘要

Researchers investigating methods to remediate aquifers contaminated with dense non-aqueous-phase liquids (DNAPLS) have developed an approach that they say can be used to greatly expedite such cleanups. The novel technique could boost efforts to remediate countless sites contaminated with chlorinated solvents and other industrial by-products. Known as density-modified displacement, the approach, developed by researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Michigan, and the University of Oklahoma offers a new possibility for remediating aquifers contaminated with DNAPLS. Commonly used for a variety of commercial and industrial purposes, the toxic compounds―including such chlorinated solvents as perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethene (TCE)―historically have been released into the environment at dry cleaning operations, military bases, and industrial sites. Because they are heavier than water, DNAPLS tend to migrate downward into groundwater supplies, slowly dissolving in an aquifer and sometimes creating large plumes of contamination.