IMPROVING THE TREATMENT OF CONTAMINATED AQUIFERS BYDEVELOPING DIRECT-PUSH OXIDANT CANDLES WITH PNEUMATIC CIRCULATORS

 描述（由申请人提供）：清洁水是世界上最基本的社会需求之一。当一个社区得知他们的饮用水被污染时，很少有什么情况能激起公众的强烈抗议。美国地下水质量面临的两个最大威胁是氯化溶剂或石油污染。如果不加以注意，与这些污染物释放到环境中有关的问题的规模和范围只会随着时间的推移而加剧。在过去十年中，已作出重大努力，开发创新的补救技术，以对付地下水污染。一种相对成熟的技术是向受污染的含水层注入液体氧化剂或就地化学氧化。成功实施ISCO处理的两个障碍是当污染物位于低渗透层中并且这些较细纹理的区域不容易接受液体注入时，或者当含水层对于液体注入来说足够多孔时，但是化学氧化剂的内聚性质导致密度驱动的流动，从而导致氧化剂下沉并且不处理期望的目标区域。为了解决这两个问题，AirLift Environmental和内布拉斯加大学开发了缓释氧化剂-石蜡蜡烛，当插入低渗透区域时，会缓慢溶解并拦截污染物。为了防止氧化剂从蜡烛向下迁移，开发了气动循环器，其在蜡烛的底部充气或释放气泡，并防止氧化剂下沉，同时大大促进其水平分布。AirLift的第一阶段TTR提供了概念验证，即带有曝气头的氧化剂蜡烛可以用直推设备制造和安装，并且该技术可以用于成功处理受污染的地下水。第二阶段的目标是进行大量的现场试验，以便在一系列水文条件下量化直推蜡烛的功效。额外的现场测试将允许AirLift改进产品设计和安装程序。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Clean water is one of the most basic societal needs in the world. Few situations incite more public outcry than when a community learns that their drinking water has been tainted. Two of the biggest threats to groundwater quality in the U.S. are contamination from either chlorinated solvents or petroleum. Left unattended, the size and scope of the problems associated with the release of these contaminants into the environment have only become exacerbated with time. In the past decade, significant efforts have been devoted to developing innovative remedial technologies to combat contaminated groundwater. One technology that is relatively mature is the injection of liquid oxidants into contaminated aquifers or in situ chemical oxidation (ISCO). Two roadblocks to successfully implementing ISCO treatments are when contaminants are located in low permeable layers and these finer textured zones do not readily accept liquid injections or when the aquifer is porous enough for liquid injections, but the cohesive properties of the chemical oxidant results in density-driven flow, thereby causing the oxidant to sink and not treat the desired target zone. To address both problems, AirLift Environmental and the University of Nebraska developed slow-release oxidant-paraffin candles that, when inserted into low permeable zones slowly dissolve and intercept the contaminant. To prevent the oxidant from migrating downward from the candles, pneumatic circulators were developed that aerate or release bubbles at the base of the candle and prevent the oxidant from sinking while greatly facilitating its horizontal distribution. AirLift's Phase I TTR provided proof-of-concept that oxidant candles with aeration tips could be manufactured and installed with direct-push equipment and that this technology could be used to successfully treat contaminated groundwater. The objective of Phase II is to perform numerous on-site trials so that the efficacy of the direct-push candles can be quantified under a range of hydrological conditions. Additional field testing will allow AirLift to refine product design and installation procedures.