Monday, November 5, 2007 : 3:30 p.m.

Optimal Times to Decrease Extraction Rates During Two-Stage Remediation Affected by Rate-Limited Transport

Jose A. Saez, Ph.D., PE, Loyola Marymount University

Saez and Harmon presented a two-stage pump and treat (PAT) groundwater remediation strategy in a recent Ground Water Journal publication (Saez and Harmon, 20061).  The strategy entails aggressive pumping rates during early stages of remediation, followed by reduced pumping rates until remediation succeeds.  The approach targets groundwater cleanup problems where solute transport is subject to rate-limited desorption, and to low-conductivity units that harbor organic contaminants and slow their release into the extracted water.  The two-stage strategy can reduce the overall volume of extracted groundwater and corresponding pumping costs.  The current work presents new remediation scenarios to expand and generalize the findings in the work cited.  The two-stage strategy is applied to hypothetical scenarios with different levels of contaminant source removal, soil heterogeneities, and extraction wells locations.  Incorporation of dimensionless groups, which address contaminant mass, pumping rates, extracted volumes, and advection and desorption rates, help generalize results and establish conditions in which the proposed PAT strategy is superior that steady pumping.
 
1 Saez, J. A., and T. C. Harmon, 2006. Two-Stage Aquifer Pumping Subject to Slow Desorption and Persistent Sources. Ground

Jose A. Saez, Ph.D., PE, Loyola Marymount University Jose A. Saez is an Assistant Professor at Loyola Marymount University’s Department of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, where he teaches courses in surface and groundwater hydrology, wastewater treatment and fluid mechanics. His research focuses on understanding contaminant transport in groundwater and improving pump-and-treat remediation strategies. Dr. Saez is also a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of California with 20 years of professional and research experience, while he worked as a supervising engineer for the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts and as a consultant in projects that involve groundwater quality, wastewater treatment and industrial waste pretreatment.


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Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Organic Chemicals in Ground Water: Prevention, Detection, and Remediation® Conference