Need information on Biosparging.

[JSheehan]

Does anyone have any information on recent biospharging projects? I am bidding on a project and would like any information to familiarize myself with the procedure. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[CESSNA1]

JSHEEHAN:

I assume what you are doing is injecting air into porous soil to stimulate "friendly" biological decomposition of a contaminent(s). Other people may feel differently, but I have my doubts about air sparging. You are dependent upon the porosity of the soil for infiltration of the air. There are a lot of sparging heads that are required for any appreciable area.

If the contaminent is shallow you can simply do a bioremediation by adding microbes, water, and food. Aerate and turn the soil frequently.

Could you please supply some more details such as contaminent(s), area, depth, etc.

Thanks
Dave

 

[JSheehan]

The wells range in depth from 200'-500'. It is impractical to excavate or turn the soil. The site was/is a heavy industrial manufacturing site. The contaminants are various fuel and machine oils. The soil is a very granular sandy soil so porosity should not be a problem. I am more interested in learning about setup/installation procedures for a system, to help with the bid. Any input would be appreciated.
Thanks
,
Joe

 

[ctmtwilliams]

Given the range of depths indicated (300 ft), I have to ask, is this soil or groundwater remediation, and over how large of an area? At depths of 200 to 500 feet you might be better off going with stimulating anaerobic biota rather than aerobic. Injecting air to those depths and trying to maintain an aerobic population just seems like the hard way to go. You could be better off feeding an existing anaerobic population and not kill them off with sparging.