Overview of FACT Method for a Continuous Profile of Dissolved Phase Contaminant Distribution in Fractured Rock

Tuesday, October 3, 2017: 8:50 a.m.
Carl Keller , FLUTe, Alcalde, NM
Beth L. Parker, Ph.D. , College of Physical and Engineering Science, G360, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
Steven Chapman, M.Sc., P.Eng. , G360 Centre for Applied Groundwater Research, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
Seth Pitkin , Cascade-Environmental, Montpelier, VT

Key contaminated site characterization questions are: 1) where are the contaminants in the system; 2) where are the primary pathways for contaminant transport; and 3) how to limit effects of the borehole? A convenient answer is a sealing flexible borehole liner, which includes a NAPL sensitive cover on the liner, and also provides a high resolution profile of the dissolved phase contaminant distribution. This paper presents results of recent field testing of two technologies that can be deployed simultaneously on a FLUTeTM liner. A NAPL FLUTeTM color reactive cover plus an activated carbon felt strip sewn into the interior surface of the NAPL FLUTe cover maps the NAPL and the dissolved phase of contamination. The combination is called a NAPL/FACT.TM FACT is short for the FLUTe Activated Carbon Technique*.The activated carbon felt strip adsorbs by diffusion the dissolved phase of the typical chlorinated solvents and also the daughter products. The carrier liner presses the FACT against the borehole wall, where the carbon felt wicks contaminants from both the pore space of the rock by diffusion and from groundwater flowing in fractures. After two weeks, the NAPL/FACT is recovered by inversion from the borehole. The carbon strip is sectioned into short intervals of generally 0.5-3 ft, which are sent to a lab for analysis using methanol or pentane extraction and a GC/MS system, with results reported as mass of each VOC per mass of dry felt. The NAPL FLUTe cover provides a 2-D map of the NAPL in vicinity of the borehole wall. This paper provides recent results of FACT measurements at the NAWC site near Trenton, NJ including comparison with multi-level water, core, head, and transmissivity profiles in the same borehole. Potential perturbations of the FACT results are addressed. More testing of the technology is ongoing as an ESTCP project

  Handout

Carl Keller, FLUTe, Alcalde, NM
Carl Keller is the Principal Scientist at Flexible Liner Underground Technologies. He holds 21 patents on flexible liner methods and received the R&D 100 Award in 1994 and the NGWA Technology Award in 2008. A physicist by training (M.S.), he has been working mainly in the earth sciences since 1989.



Beth L. Parker, Ph.D., College of Physical and Engineering Science, G360, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
Beth Parker, Ph.D., University of Guelph Professor in the College of Physical and Engineering Sciences and Director of the G360 Centre for Applied Groundwater Research, has more than 30 years of experience investigating subsurface contamination at numerous sites around the world, using high resolution data sets for site conceptual model development and testing. Her current research activities emphasize developing improved field and laboratory methods for characterizations and monitoring of industrial contaminants in sedimentary rocks, clayey deposits, and sandy aquifers, and focus on the effects of diffusion in low permeability zones, plume attenuation, and hydrogeologic controls on remediation.



Steven Chapman, M.Sc., P.Eng., G360 Centre for Applied Groundwater Research, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada
Steven Chapman is a Senior Research Engineer/Hydrogeologist in the G360 Centre for Applied Groundwater Research in the College of Physical and Engineering Sciences at the University of Guelph. He is a Professional Engineer (Civil) with an M.Sc. from the University of Waterloo (Earth Sciences) and has more than 20 years of hydrogeologic experience. His research focuses on contaminant behavior in unconsolidated porous media and sedimentary rock, involving high resolution site characterization at industrial and research sites and numerical modeling, with a focus on the role of diffusion including impacts on remediation performance.


Seth Pitkin, Cascade-Environmental, Montpelier, VT
TBD