Project: Pilot Test at Diaz Chemical Superfund Site

Location

Holley, NY

Contaminants

VOCs and SVOCs

Volume

6,944 cy

Goal

Establish a basis of design for future full-scale implementation

Number of Heaters

72

Mass Removed

312 lbs

Technologies

Important Project Details

Approach: Site soil and groundwater were impacted with a variety of VOCs and non-standard SVOCs. Thermal Conduction Heating (TCH) was used to treat a targeted zone from 3 to approximately 28 feet below ground surface.

Challenges: Heating the treatment zone located below the water table to 125°C required a detailed understanding of site geology and permeability and the design of a heating strategy to be able to deliver sufficient energy to overcome groundwater flux rates and efficiently boil off the water.

Results: The treatment volume was successfully heated to and held at both target temperatures of 100°C and 125°C. Heating times and energy use were within 6% of modeled projections and soil clean-up goals were reached in all TTZ confirmatory 

What Makes this Project Unique

Performance of a pilot study to evaluate the effects of in situ heating on the extraction and treatment of the various COCs. The pilot test included two heating stages. First, temperatures in the target treatment zone (TTZ) were elevated to 100°C for 60 days to evaluate the removal efficiency of VOCs. Next, the TTZ was heated to a maximum average temperature of 125°C to evaluate the removal of SVOCs. Half of the TTZ was located inside a building.