(339d) Electrokinetic Enhancement of Air Sparging for Groundwater and Soil Remediation

Air Sparging technology, which is more frequently used for organic compound clean ups in soil remediation, has been studied in conjunction with EK to analyze the potential of achieving higher contaminant removal. In other words, the main focus of this contribution is the research and identification of potential enhancements of these two technologies working together. In the first part of this effort, the modeling of a hypothetical dynamic system has been developed for the air injection only. In the second part, the system has been modified to account for electroosmotic forces working on the liquid phase. The non linear nature as well as the coupling of the transient state mass balance model obligates a rigorous numerical solution of the system. The differential model equation yields the pressure profile vertical directions of the target soil. The effects of different induced pressure at the soil surface on the pressure profile underground are illustrated. The change in the dynamic response of the system under the stress of the pressure indicates the progressive movement of air mass thru the porous media. Results of the simulations show the healthy effect of the EK enhancement, on the cleaning process, by reducing the time required to reach a cleaning threshold of the operation, significantly. Details about the model formulation and simulations results will be discussed in the contribution as well as potential ideas for experimental validation.