Enhancing in situ bioremediation with pneumatic fracturing

A major technical obstacle affecting the application of in situ bioremediation is the effective distribution of nutrients to the subsurface media. Pneumatic fracturing can increase the permeability of subsurface formations through the injection of high pressure air to create horizontal fracture planes, thus enhancing macro-scale mass-transfer processes. Pneumatic fracturing technology was demonstrated at two field sites at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Tests were performed to increase the permeability for more effective bioventing, and evaluated the potential to increase permeability and recovery of free product in low permeability soils consisting of fine grain silts, clays, and sedimentary rock. Pneumatic fracturing significantly improved formation permeability by enhancing secondary permeability and by promoting removal of excess soil moisture from the unsaturated zone. Postfracture airflows were 500% to 1,700% higher than prefracture airflows for specific fractured intervals in the formation. This corresponds to an average prefracturing permeability of 0.017 Darcy, increasing to an average of 0.32 Darcy after fracturing. Pneumatic fracturing also increased free-product recovery rates of number 2 fuel from an average of 587 L (155 gal) per month before fracturing to 1,647 L (435 gal) per month after fracturing

Sorbate characteristics of fly ash. Volume I. Final report

The objective of this investigation is to correlate the sorbate and leaching characteristics of fly ash with coal properties and monitored combustion conditions in order to design a system for the inexpensive treatment of industrial wastes and leachate from industrial landfills using mixtures of fly ash as inexpensive sorbents. Such a low-cost treatment system could also treat ash pond effluent for water reuse by powerplants as cooling tower makeup. Twelve unblended coals from 10 different mines were burned under monitored conditions in three different types of coal fired boilers in order to determine the influence of coal composition, ash fusion temperatures, boiler additives, combustion conditions and co-firing of natural gas or oil with the coal, on the leaching and sorbate characteristics of the fly ash produced. This included the determination of: (1) SiO/sub 2/, Al/sup 2/O/sub 3/, Fe/sub 2/O/sub 3/, CaO, K/sub 2/O, Na/sub 2/O, MgO, sulfur, ash fusion temperatures Ti, Cd, Sn, Ni, Pb, Mo, Cu, Cr, n, Mn, Ba and V in the coals and their respective fly ashes and bottom ashes; (2) Moessbauer spectra of a number of coals and their fly ashes; and (3) surface analysis of the fly ashes using ESCA. The leaching exhibited by the fly ashes with regard to pH, Cd, B, Sn, Ni, Pb, Mo, Cu, Cr, Mn and Fe was examined. In addition, the removal of Cd, B, Sn, Ni, Pb, Mo, Cu, Cr, Fe, As and organics by fly ash was evaluated, using from actual ash pond samples to model realistic inlet concentrations. The results show that fly ash can be used for the treatment of Cadmium, Boron, Tin, Molybdenum, Nickel, Lead, Copper, Chromium, Zinc, Manganese, Iron, Arsenic and organics in actual ash pond effluents. 18 references, 64 figures, 60 tables

Sorbate characteristics of fly ash. Quarterly progress report

This second quarterly report deals with evaluation of the fly ash sorbate characteristics for removal of organics in ash pond effluent as measured by Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Arsenic. The Moessbauer spectra is being interpreted to identify the form of the iron compounds present in the fly ashes resulting from the different combustion conditions encountered in the three different types of coal fired boilers used in this investigation and also in the coal burned in these boilers. The results indicate that boiler conditions which produce fly ashes with sorbate characteristics that favor the removal of cations also favor the removal of the anion arsenic. The effectiveness of the fly ashes for removal of COD could not be determined because the ash pond effluents used were found to contain chloride concentration levels that interfered with the COD determination. Interpretation of the Moessbauer spectra revealed that the chemical state of the iron in both the coal and the resulting fly ash can be used to monitor the fluid nature of the ash in the boiler. The results also indicated that the chemical state of the iron in the eastern coals used in this study can influence the fusion temperature of the ash