On Thursday, June 17, the nationally-recognized in-situ remediation consulting firm of XDD, LLC will participate in the International Conference on Green Remediation at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst to discuss its recent success at improving remedial efficiency and sustainability. XDD Senior Engineer Omer Uppal will be delivering the presentation, which will focus on XDD's use of pulse operation for a multi-phase extraction (MPE) system at an Alabama site impacted with 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA) and 1,1-dichloroethene (1,1-DCE).

The presentation is scheduled to begin at 10:30AM on Thursday, June 17. For more information on the conference and its program, click here.

In recent years, the use of green remediation technologies has gained enormous interest of remediation stakeholders and managers. However, the concept of sustainability has not been fully incorporated into various energy-intensive remedial technologies (i.e., thermal desorption, soil vapor extraction, multi-phase extraction, groundwater pump and treat, etc.) that are frequently used at contaminated sites nationwide. Integrating sustainability concepts in the design and optimization of such remedial technologies can potentially result in substantial remedial, economic, social, and net-environmental benefits. This presentation provides a case study of a pulse operational approach that was implemented for improving remedial efficiency and sustainability of a multi-phase extraction system at a voluntary cleanup program (VCP) site in Alabama.

The operation of the multi-phase extraction system was started at the site in 1994 to treat soil and groundwater that were impacted with the chlorinated solvent 1,1,1-trichloroethane (TCA) and its abiotic degradation product 1,1-dichloroethene (1,1-DCE). In early 2007, the continuous remedial operation scheme was changed to pulse operation to remediate the site in a more efficient and sustainable manner. The pulse operational parameters (i.e., pulse periods [system on/off times], groundwater capture zone radius, etc.) were developed using a numerical groundwater fate and transport model. The system performance data confirmed that the pulse operation is more efficient than continuous operation in removing contaminant mass from the vadose zone under mass transfer limiting conditions and in providing hydraulic control of the deeper aquifer. A detailed analysis of multiple sustainability metrics (i.e., volatile organic compounds [VOCs] direct emissions, electrical energy usage, water consumption, hazardous waste generation, etc.) was performed using a Sustainable Remediation Tool (SRT) to quantify the sustainability concepts and net-environmental benefit related to the pulse remedial operation. The pulse operational approach resulted in an overall 67% reduction in sustainability metrics.

XDD encourages any individuals who will not be attending the conference and who are interested in learning more about in-situ remediation strategies and technologies to contact Mike Marley (marley@xdd-llc.com), Bruce Cliff (cliff@xdd-llc.com) or Omer Uppal (uppal@xdd-llc.com) via email or at (800) 486-3575.