Soil vapor extraction and bioventing: Applications, limitations, and future research directions

Soil vapor extraction (SVE) has evolved over the past decade as an attractive in situ remediation method for unsaturated soils contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs). SVE involves the generation of air flow through the pores of the contaminated soil to induce transfer of VOCs to the air stream. Air flow is established by pumping from vadose zone wells through which contaminant vapors are collected and transported above ground where they are treated, if required, and discharged to the atmosphere. The popularity of SVE technologies stems from their proven effectiveness for removing large quantities of VOCs from the soil, their cost competitiveness, and their relatively simple non-intrusive implementation. Widespread field application of SVE has occurred following the success of early laboratory and field scale feasibility studies [Texas Research Institute, 1980, 1984; Thornton and Wootan, 1982; Marley and Hoag, 1984; Crow et al., 1985, 1987]. As many as 18% of Superfund sites employ SVE remediation technologies [Travis and Macinnis, 1992] and numerous articles and reports have documented the application of SVE [e.g. Hutzler et al., 1989; Downey and Elliott, 1990; U.S. EPA, 1991; Sanderson et al, 1993; Gerbasi and Menoli, 1994; McCann et al., 1994;].

[1]  George E. Hoag,et al.  GASOLINE RESIDUAL SATURATION IN UNSATURATED UNIFORM AQUIFER MATERIALS , 1986 .

[2]  J. Scott Thornton,et al.  Venting for the removal of hydrocarbon vapors from gasoline contaminated soil , 1982 .

[3]  R. Loehr,et al.  Bioremediation of organic contaminated soils , 1991 .

[4]  D. J. Wilson,et al.  Soil Clean up by in-situ Aeration. XI. Cleanup Time Distributions for Statistically Equivalent Variable Permeabilities , 1993 .

[5]  Vijay K. Dhir,et al.  Modeling of Soil Venting Processes to Remediate Unsaturated Soils , 1992 .

[6]  Abdul S. Abdul,et al.  Vapor Extraction of Volatile Organic Compounds from Clay Soil: A Long‐Term Field Pilot Study , 1993 .

[7]  Michael McCann,et al.  Remediation of a VOC‐contaminated superfund site using soil vapor extraction, groundwater extraction, and treatment: A case study , 1994 .

[8]  Neil J. Hutzler,et al.  Modeling the movement of volatile organic chemicals in columns of unsaturated soil , 1990 .

[9]  C. Shoemaker,et al.  Influence of vapor-phase sorption and diffusion on the fate of trichloroethylene in an unsaturated aquifer system. , 1988, Environmental science & technology.

[10]  Robert W. Gillham,et al.  Sorption nonideality during organic contaminant transport in porous media , 1989 .

[11]  M. Marley,et al.  The Application of In Situ Air Sparging as an Innovative Soils and Ground Water Remediation Technology , 1992 .

[12]  Dominic C. DiGiulio,et al.  Pneumatic pumping test for soil vacuum extraction , 1992 .

[13]  David A. Benson,et al.  Modeling Vapor Extraction and General Transport in the Presence of NAPL Mixtures and Nonideal Conditions , 1993 .

[14]  Clifford K. Ho,et al.  An experimental investigation of air venting of volatile liquid hydrocarbon mixtures from homogeneous and heterogeneous porous media , 1992 .

[15]  G. E. Speitel,et al.  Bioremediation of unsaturated soils contaminated with chlorinated solvents , 1991 .

[16]  Jong Soo Cho,et al.  A three-dimensional air flow model for soil venting: Superposition of analytical functions , 1993 .

[17]  John T. Wilson,et al.  Bioventing to treat fuel spills from underground storage tanks , 1991 .

[18]  Curtis C. Travis,et al.  Vapor extraction of organics from subsurface soils is it effective , 1992 .

[19]  James A. Smith,et al.  Simulating the volatilization of solvents in unsaturated soils during laboratory and field infiltration experiments , 1993 .

[20]  Kurt D. Pennell,et al.  An Experimental Investigation of Rate‐Limited Nonaqueous Phase Liquid Volatilization in Unsaturated Porous Media: Steady State Mass Transfer , 1995 .

[21]  E. Sudicky,et al.  Simulation of dense vapor migration in discretely fractured geologic media , 1994 .

[22]  J. Massmann,et al.  Estimating air conductivity and porosity from vadose-zone pumping tests , 1994 .

[23]  William J. Doucette,et al.  Assessment of In Situ Bioremediation Potential and the Application of Bioventing at a Fuel-Contaminated Site , 1991 .

[24]  Edward M. Minugh,et al.  Subsurface Venting of Vapors Emanating from Hydrocarbon Product on Ground Water , 1986 .

[25]  T. Patzek,et al.  MODELING OF MULTIPHASE TRANSPORT OF MULTICOMPONENT ORGANIC CONTAMINANTS AND HEAT IN THE SUBSURFACE : NUMERICAL MODEL FORMULATION , 1993 .

[26]  Jonathan F. Sykes,et al.  Compositional simulation of groundwater contamination by organic compounds: 1. Model development and verification , 1993 .

[27]  W. Yeh,et al.  Mathematical simulation of soil vapor extraction systems: Model development and numerical examples , 1991 .

[28]  Arthur L. Baehr,et al.  Evaluation of Unsaturated Zone Air Permeability Through Pneumatic Tests , 1991 .

[29]  B. Yaron,et al.  Outdoor experiments on enhanced volatilization by venting of kerosene component from soil , 1993 .

[30]  Jonathan F. Sykes,et al.  Modeling the transport of volatile organics in variably saturated media , 1989 .

[31]  Karsten Pruess,et al.  Numerical modeling of steam injection for the removal of nonaqueous phase liquids from the subsurface: 2. Code validation and application , 1992 .

[32]  C. J. Joss,et al.  An Updated Model of Induced Airflow in the Unsaturated Zone , 1995 .

[33]  G. J. Farquhar,et al.  Modeling gas migration through unsaturated soils from waste disposal sites , 1987 .

[34]  Effective gas flow arrangements in soil venting , 1992 .

[35]  Michael G. Elliott,et al.  Performance of selected in situ soil decontamination technologies: An Air Force perspective , 1990 .

[36]  C. T. Chiou,et al.  Soil sorption of organic vapors and effects of humidity on sorptive mechanism and capacity. , 1985, Environmental science & technology.

[37]  M. Yavuz Corapcioglu,et al.  Ground‐Water Contamination by High‐Density Immiscible Hydrocarbon Slugs in Gravity‐Driven Gravel Aquifers , 1990 .

[38]  P. Jaffé,et al.  The volatilization of organic compounds in unsaturated porous media during infiltration. , 1990 .

[39]  P. Bedient,et al.  Transport of dissolved hydrocarbons influenced by oxygen‐limited biodegradation: 1. Theoretical development , 1986 .

[40]  Soil Clean Up by in-situ Aeration. V. Vapor Stripping from Fractured Bedrock , 1990 .

[41]  Linda M. Abriola,et al.  Modeling transport and biodegradation of benzene and toluene in sandy aquifer material: Comparisons With experimental measurements , 1992 .

[42]  Emil O. Frind,et al.  Nonequilibrium mass transfer between the vapor, aqueous, and solid phases in unsaturated soils during vapor extraction , 1994 .

[43]  L. Jones,et al.  Air Permeability from Pneumatic Tests in Oxidized Till , 1994 .

[44]  George E. Hoag,et al.  Removing volatile contaminants from the unsaturated zone by inducing advective air-phase transport , 1989 .

[45]  G. J. Farquhar,et al.  Modeling of leachate organic migration and attenuation in groundwaters below sanitary landfills , 1982 .

[46]  D. J. Wilson,et al.  SOIL CLEAN UP BY IN-SITU AERATION. VI, EFFECTS OF VARIABLE PERMEABILITIES , 1991 .

[47]  J. Pankow,et al.  Air Sparging in Gate Wells in Cutoff Walls and Trenches for Control of Plumes of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) , 1993 .

[48]  Karsten Pruess,et al.  Modeling Advective Contaminant Transport During Soil Vapor Extraction , 1993 .

[49]  R. Loehr,et al.  Degradation of organic vapors in unsaturated soils , 1991 .

[50]  Kai-Uwe Goss,et al.  Effects of temperature and relative humidity on the sorption of organic vapors on quartz sand , 1992 .

[51]  S. Nair,et al.  Simulation of chemical transport in unsaturated soil. , 1990 .

[52]  James H. Clarke,et al.  Soil Clean Up by in-situ Aeration. I. Mathematical Modeling , 1988 .

[53]  Christine A. Shoemaker,et al.  Effects of soil moisture and physical-chemical properties of organic pollutants on vapor-phase transport in the vadose zone , 1992 .

[54]  A. Abdul,et al.  Numerical investigations of optimal well spacing and the effect of screen length and surface sealing on gas flow toward an extraction well , 1993 .

[55]  Soil clean up by in-situ aeration. X. Vapor stripping of mixtures of volatile organics obeying Raoult's law , 1992 .

[56]  Alan S. Goldfarb,et al.  Technical aspects of site remediation: Soil vapor vacuum extraction , 1994 .

[57]  G. D. Beckett,et al.  Characterization of Flow Parameters Controlling Soil Vapor Extraction , 1994 .

[58]  R. Hinchee,et al.  Bench Scale Studies of the Soil Aeration Process for Bioremediation of Petroleum Hydrocarbons , 1991, Applied biochemistry and biotechnology.

[59]  G. C. Barbee.  Fate of Chlorinated Aliphatic Hydrocarbons in the Vadose Zone and Ground Water , 1994 .

[60]  John S. Gierke,et al.  State of technology review : soil vapor extraction systems , 1991 .

[61]  Ross N. Miller.  A Field Scale Investigation of Enhanced Petroleum Hydrocarbon Biodegradation in the Vadose Zone Combining Soil Venting as an Oxygen Source with Moisture and Nutrient Addition. Appendices , 1990 .

[62]  C. Ho,et al.  Propagation of evaporation and condensation fronts during multicomponent soil vapor extraction , 1994 .

[63]  Joel Massmann,et al.  Effects of atmospheric pressures on gas transport in the vadose zone , 1992 .

[64]  W. Roy,et al.  An analytical model for in situ extraction of organic vapors , 1991 .

[65]  Paul C. Johnson,et al.  Quantitative analysis for the cleanup of hydrocarbon-contaminated soils by in-situ soil venting , 1990 .

[66]  Emil O. Frind,et al.  Modeling of multicomponent transport with microbial transformation in groundwater: The Fuhrberg Case , 1990 .

[67]  R. Ryan Dupont,et al.  Fundamentals of bioventing applied to fuel contaminated sites , 1993 .

[68]  F. Molz,et al.  Simulation of Microbial Growth Dynamics Coupled to Nutrient and Oxygen Transport in Porous Media , 1986 .

[69]  Mark L. Brusseau,et al.  Transport of Organic Chemicals by Gas Advection in Structured or Heterogeneous Porous Media: Development of a Model and Application to Column Experiments , 1991 .

[70]  William W.-G. Yeh,et al.  Optimization of the Design and Operation of Soil Vapor Extraction Systems , 1994 .

[71]  M. Oxley,et al.  An analytical solution to equations describing rate-limited soil vapor extraction of contaminants in the vadose zone , 1994 .

[72]  N. Korte,et al.  Vapor extraction experiments with laboratory soil columns: Implications for field programs , 1991 .

[73]  Wolfgang Kinzelbach,et al.  Numerical Modeling of Natural and Enhanced Denitrification Processes in Aquifers , 1991 .

[74]  R. Mutch,et al.  Soil Clean Up by in-situ Aeration. II. Effects of Impermeable Caps, Soil Permeability, and Evaporative Cooling , 1989 .

[75]  P. Rao,et al.  Vapor-phase sorption of p-xylene and water on soils and clay minerals , 1992 .

[76]  W. Shiu,et al.  Sorption of organic vapors at the air-water interface in a sandy aquifer material , 1993 .

[77]  Nancy J. Hayden,et al.  Change in Gasoline Constituent Mass Transfer During Soil Venting , 1994 .

[78]  D. Wilson,et al.  Soil Clean Up by in-situ Aeration. IX. Diffusion Constants of Volatile Organics and Removal of Underlying Liquid , 1991 .

[79]  Analytical solutions for equations describing coupled transport of two solutes and a gaseous product in soil , 1993 .

[80]  José M. Rodríguez-Maroto,et al.  SOIL CLEAN UP BY IN-SITU AERATION. VII, HIGH-SPEED MODELING OF DIFFUSION KINETICS , 1991 .

[81]  James A. Smith,et al.  Effect of Soil Moisture on the Sorption of Trichloroethene Vapor to Vadose-Zone Soil at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey , 1990 .

[82]  Soil Clean Up by in-situ Aeration. IV. Anisotropic Permeabilities , 1990 .

[83]  Neil J. Hutzler,et al.  VAPOR TRANSPORT IN UNSATURATED SOIL COLUMNS : IMPLICATIONS FOR VAPOR EXTRACTION , 1992 .

[84]  Ronald W. Falta,et al.  Analytical solutions for steady state gas flow to a soil vapor extraction well , 1992 .

[85]  L. R. Silka.  Simulation of Vapor Transport Through the Unsaturated Zone — Interpretation of Soil‐Gas Surveys , 1988 .

[86]  R. Hinchee,et al.  Enhancing biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons through soil venting , 1991 .

[87]  Paul C. Johnson,et al.  A Practical Approach to the Design, Operation, and Monitoring of In Situ Soil‐Venting Systems , 1990 .

[88]  D. Russo,et al.  Analytical models of steady state organic species transport in the vadose zone with kinetically controlled volatilization and dissolution , 1993 .

[89]  Christine A. Shoemaker,et al.  Impact of Vapor Sorption on the Subsurface Transport of Volatile Organic Compounds: A Numerical Model and Analysis , 1991 .

[90]  Robert E. Montgomery,et al.  A mathematical model for removing volatile subsurface hydrocarbons by miscible displacement , 1987 .

[91]  David B. McWhorter,et al.  Unsteady radial flow of gas in the vadose zone , 1990 .

[92]  Karsten Pruess,et al.  Density-driven flow of gas in the unsaturated zone due to the evaporation of volatile organic compounds , 1989 .

[93]  C. H. Ward,et al.  Subsurface microbial ecology and bioremediation , 1992 .

[94]  Robert E. Hinchee,et al.  A Field-Scale Investigation of Petroleum Hydrocarbon Biodegradation in the Vadose Zone Enhanced by Soil Venting at Tyndall AFB, Florida , 1991 .

[95]  Soil Clean Up by in-situ Aeration. XII. Effect of Departures from Darcy's Law on Soil Vapor Extraction , 1993 .

[96]  L. Katz,et al.  Sorption phenomena in subsurface systems: Concepts, models and effects on contaminant fate and transport , 1991 .

[97]  T. Harmon,et al.  The effect of equilibration time on desorption rate measurements with chlorinated alkenes and aquifer particles , 1994 .

[98]  Fred J. Molz,et al.  A numerical transport model for oxygen‐ and nitrate‐based respiration linked to substrate and nutrient availability in porous media , 1988 .

[99]  K. McCarthy,et al.  Transport of volatile organic compounds across the capillary fringe , 1993 .

[100]  Peter A. Forsyth,et al.  Numerical simulation of gas venting for NAPL site remediation , 1991 .

[101]  N. Sitar,et al.  Nonaqueous phase liquid transport and cleanup: 2. Experimental studies , 1988 .

[102]  Gary P. Streile,et al.  Evaluation of volatilization by organic chemicals residing below the soil surface , 1990 .

[103]  J. Massmann.  Applying groundwater flow models in vapor extraction system design , 1989 .