Project: Dioxin Treatment at Da Nang Airport – Phase 1
Location
Vietnam, Da Nang
Contaminants
Dioxins (2,3,7,8-TEQ)
Volume
56,697 cy
Goal
150 ppt for 2,3,7,8-TEQ
Number of Heaters
1,254
Mass Removed
0.9 lbs
Technologies
Important Project Details
Approach: For Phase 1, Impacted soil was excavated and loaded into a pile the
size of a football field and 6m tall. With a required target temperature of 335°C for effective treatment, thermal conduction heating (TCH) was the only available heating technology. The soil was heated, treated, cooled, and used as clean fill for airport expansion after confirmatory sampling.
Challenges: Heating was observed to be slowest at the top and bottom of the pile. This prolonged the first phase, and lead to improvements of the cover design, and a revised heating strategy for Phase 2, which was completed on schedule.
Results: Contaminant concentrations were reduced from a range of 4,040 to 6,880 ppt to an average of 8.9 ppt. TerraTherm received the EBJ 2018 Business Achievement Award for Project Merit in Remediation.
Photos Courtesy of USAID.
What Makes this Project Unique
More than 49 years after the Vietnam War, during which Agent Orange was used for defoliation, a large area at the Da Nang airport remained heavily contaminated by residues of the chemicals, including dioxins such as 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p- dioxin.
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funded and implemented this project in partnership with the Vietnam Ministry of National Defense. TerraTherm’s role included design, construction, operation, and decommissioning of the in-pile thermal desorption (IPTD®) treatment system and treatment of the contaminated soil and sediments in two sequential phases.