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Case Studies: Chlorinated Solvents | Case Studies: TCE

Case Studies: Chlorinated Solvents

Dry Clean USA # 11204, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
State Coalition for the Remediation of Drycleaners, Site Profiles, 2003

Excavation was chosen in December 2001 as a more practical removal technology than vapor extraction for soil contaminated with PCE and TCE because the source area had become accessible with the removal of the drycleaning machine, and little room was available for a remedial system on site. Soil excavation and removal costs were $18,000. Bioremediation also was implemented in a pilot study of enhanced degradation of groundwater contaminants in 2002.

Adobe PDF LogoRemedial Action Plan for the Vadose Zone Soil at the Golden Technology Site: Notice of Exemption
California Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Toxic Substances Control, 3 pp, 2004

The proposed remedial action for the soil consists of removing soil containing TCE and cis-1, 2-DCE above site cleanup goals and restricting the property to commercial and/or industrial uses. The objective of the current remedy is to address surface exposures and soils as a source of groundwater contamination. This includes excavation around the former drum storage area and below the sumps. Soil excavation is anticipated to depths ranging from 6 to 7 feet bgs and potentially can extend to 13 to 20 feet while remaining above the shallow water table. Excavated soil will be placed on and covered with plastic sheeting or placed in covered soil bins until characterized. Soil containing TCE and cis-1,2-DCE above site cleanup goals will be loaded, covered, and transported to an appropriately permitted disposal facility. Reasons why the project is exempt: The project is a small removal action that costs under $400,000. A licensed hazardous waste contractor will excavate ~1,500 to 3,000 cubic yds of VOC-impacted soil over 4 to 6 weeks. The facility is not on the Hazardous Waste and Substances and Sites (Cortese) List; there are no endangered species, either plant or animal, or sensitive habitat on the site or in the site vicinity; and there are no known cultural resources areas in the vicinity of the site.

Adobe PDF LogoRemedial Action Plan: UNC Chapel Hill, Airport Road Waste Disposal Area, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 71 pp, 2005

An area less than half an acre in extent was used from 1973 through 1978 to dispose of chemical waste from the University's facilities in 18 separate burial trenches. Acetone, benzene, chloroform, 1,2-DCA, diethyl ether, ethylbenzene, methylene chloride, 1,1,2,2-TCA, TCE, and total xylenes exceed their respective standards in the site's groundwater. Due to safety concerns, no soil samples have been collected from the waste burial pits or within the fenced area of the site, but it is presumed that impacted soils are present within, beneath, and adjacent to the individual waste burial pits as a result of direct contact with chemicals leaching from ruptured laboratory containers. The preferred remedial alternative involves excavation of primary and secondary source materials using conventional excavation techniques with manual segregation of primary source materials, such as full and broken containers, to minimize the generation of vapors and reduce the potential for off-site impacts. The soils would be placed in roll-off containers and chemicals would be packed in laboratory over-packs for transportation to a Subtitle C treatment and disposal facility. [A groundwater system was installed in 2006, and implementation of the soil remedy is anticipated in 2007 or 2008.]

Adobe PDF LogoRemediation of CHC by Reductive Dechlorination in Germany: A Full-Scale Approach
A. Oppermann.
Seventh International Conference on In Situ and On-Site Bioremediation, Orlando, Florida, 2-5 June 2003. Battelle Press. Presentation #559, 8 pp, 2003

A high-permeability sand and gravel aquifer at an industrial site in northern Germany was contaminated with chlorinated solvents, such as PCE, TCA, TCE, and cDCE. Total concentrations prior to remedial activities reached 30,000 µg/L. The source of the groundwater contamination was a complex mixture of petroleum and chlorinated hydrocarbons situated under an occupied maintenance shop. The oil-saturated core area was 20 m in diameter and reached as deep as 5 m bgs. The contaminant plume extends more than 1,000 m from the source and reaches a residential area 80 m downgradient. Groundwater remediation via enhanced reductive dechlorination using HRC (Regenesis) was chosen as the main remedial strategy. Within the plume, the approach reduced contaminant concentrations sufficiently to prevent further migration downgradient. Within a reaction zone of approximately 15 m, chlorinated compound degradation of one order of magnitude was observed. In the source area, however, the quantity of sorbed or free-phase product continually replenished the contaminants from the source material. Ten months after HRC injection, the source area was excavated to reduce the cleanup time frame, and additional electron donor material was introduced. Ongoing monitoring results show good progress in contaminant dechlorination in the remaining core area as well as downgradient in the plume.

Case Studies: TCE

Adobe PDF LogoDraft Interim Remedial Design Document for the Building 834 Operable Unit Treatment Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Site 300
S. Gregory, V. Madrid, L. Ferry, R. Halden, and Z. Demir.
UCRL-AR-144919-DR, 220 pp, 2001

The Building 834 Complex at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory site 300 has been used by as a testing facility. The heat-exchange system at the facility used TCE, at times with adjuvants, as the primary heat-transfer media for over 20 years. Accidental spills, pipe failures, and seal blowouts over that period contributed to a substantial contaminant plume in a perched water-bearing zone underlying the Complex. Individual wells near the source area have produced ground water samples with TCE concentrations exceeding 800,000 ppb. Cleanup began in October 1982 with the excavation of TCE-contaminated shallow soil from behind Building 834C. Additional excavations of TCE-contaminated soil were performed in 1983 at Buildings 834 B, C, D, G, and J. About 110 cubic yd of contaminated soil were removed during these excavations along with an estimated 80.5 kg of TCE. All excavations are documented in the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Site 300 Building 834 Complex (UCRL-ID-103963, Bryn et al., 1990).

Abstracts of Journal Articles

Yakima Valley Spray Facility Cleanup
R.H. Bassett.
Annual Conference on Contaminated Soils, Sediments and Water, 17-20 October 2005
University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The Association for the Environmental Health of Soils, Amherst, MA.

The soil and groundwater of the site of a former pesticide formulator/distributor adjacent to a former bulk fuel distributor was contaminated with pesticides, hydrocarbons, VOCs, and metals. Site cleanup was complicated by contamination under two storage buildings and two adjacent railroad spurs, an upgradient unknown source of PCE, a sewer line, buried fuel tanks, and an irrigation canal. The cleanup action plan gave the responsible parties options of (1) minimal excavation with long-term bioventing and biosparging or (2) maximum excavation to low winter groundwater levels. Maximum excavation was selected as the cheaper and quicker alternative. Excavation and transport of about 80,000 tons of contaminated soil to appropriate landfills occurred in 2004. Cleanup cost is estimated at $10M to $12M.