Experimental examination of integrated soil vapor extraction techniques

As the result of a series of remediation activities, a total of ~115 kg of gasoline was removed from the soil vapour extraction (SVE) system. SVE was effective at recovering a significant amount of that mass (75 kg or ~65%). Four other techniques were used in conjunction with SVE to remove the remaining mass. The conclusions drawn from this series of experiments are that: SVE was able to remove most of the mass from the unsaturated zone in a relatively short period of time, but a significant fraction was not readily removed; in situ air sparging was able to remove some additional mass from the system (~4.5 kg), but a significant mass of hydrocarbons remained; it was indicated that the radius of influence of the sparging was 2 m at most. Dewatering and air injection coupled with SVE is likely to be the most effective means of removing all of the mass from a system. -from Authors