Emplacement of treatment agents using soil fracturing for remediation of subsurface environmental contamination

摘要

A method for treating contamination in subsurface formations includes fracturing the soil to produce a network of fractures in the formation and simultaneously injecting a slurry containing an optional proppant and a solid-phase or nonaqueous-phase treatment agent into the network of fractures. The proppant is for keeping the fractures open, and the treatment agent accelerates conversion of the contaminants into immobile or less toxic forms. Chitin is an illustrative solid-phase treatment agent, which functions as an electron donor for anaerobic reductive dechlorination mediated by dechlorinating bacteria.