Enhanced Amendment Delivery to Low Permeability Zones in Unconfined Aquifers Using Shear-Thinning Fluid
EMSL Project ID
37301
Abstract
Zhong et al. (2008) conducted a series of flow cell experiments in the EMSL Subsurface Flow and Transport Laboratory using the shear-thinning polymer xanthan gum to investigate the impact of polymer concentration, fluid injection rate, and permeability contrast in relatively simple, confined heterogeneous systems. The experimental results clearly showed that the shear-thinning fluid yielded an enhanced delivery of remedial amendments to lower permeability zones and an increased sweeping efficiency. Partly based on these EMSL experiments, the Department of Defense has recently funded the project "Enhanced Amendment Delivery to Low Permeability Zones for Chlorinated Solvent Source Area Bioremediation" as part of the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP). The project is a collaboration between GSI Environmental Inc. and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The overall goal of the project is to show, through a field demonstration, the use of shear-thinning fluid for enhanced delivery of bioremediation amendments to low permeability zones in unconfined aquifers. Before the technique can be applied at a site, shear-thinning fluid movement into lower-permeability materials need to demonstrated at the intermediate scale.
Project Details
Project type
Exploratory Research
Start Date
2009-11-30
End Date
2010-12-05
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator