Electrical Resistance Heating: Rapid Treatment for Soil and Groundwater Remediation

Resumo

Electrical  resistance  heating  (ERH)  is  an  in  situ  thermal  treatment  for  soil  and  groundwater remediation that can reduce the time to clean up volatile organic compounds (VOCs)  from  years  to  months.  The  technology  is  now  mature  enough  to  provide  site  owners  with  both  performance  and  financial  certainty  in  their  site-closure  process.  The  ability  of  the  technology  to  remediate  soil  and  groundwater impacted  by  chlorinated  solvents and petroleum hydrocarbons  regardless of  lithology proves  to be beneficial over  conventional  in  situ  technologies  that  are  dependent  on  advective  flow.  These  conventional  technologies  include: soil vapor  recovery, air sparging, and pump and  treat,  or the delivery of fluids to the subsurface such as chemical oxidization and bioremediation.  The  technology  is  very  tolerant  of  subsurface  heterogeneities  and  actually  performs  as
well in low-permeability silts and clay as in higher-permeability sands and gravels. ERH is  often implemented around and under buildings and public access areas without upsetting  normal  business  operations.  ERH  may  also  be  combined  with  other  treatment  technologies  to  optimize  and  enhance  their  performance.  This  article  describes  the  technology  development,  the  process,  and  provides  two  case  studies  where  ERH  was  used to remediate complex lithologies.