Technology Status Report: In Situ Flushing - CLU-IN

In Situ Flushing Project Summaries
GWRTAC Case Study Database
GWRTAC ID: FLSH0065
Project Name: Pearl Harbor
City: Pearl Harbor State/Province: HI
Primary GWRTAC Personal
Communication Source
(Name/Organization):
Project Summary:
John Londergan
Duke Engineering & Services
Report(s)/Publication(s) (GWRTAC Source):
None
The following text was provided in a project summary on September 8, 1998 by Duke Engineering
& Services of Austin, TX:
Pearl Harbor Naval station is contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons that are present in the
subsurface as light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPL). In particular, petroleum hydrocarbons are
seeping into Pearl Harbor at Quarry Loch. To address this problem, the Navy has funded a project
intended to demonstrate the effectiveness of various remediation technologies. A demonstration
area adjacent to Quarry Loch has been dedicated for this project. The LNAPL contaminant at the
site is mainly Navy Special Fuel Oil (NFSO), a highly viscous fuel oil. Duke Engineering and
Services (DE&S) will demonstrate the use of Surfactant Enhanced Aquifer Remediation (SEAR) to
remove the LNAPL contamination.
In early December, 1997 DE&S began a hydrogeologic characterization of the Quarry Loch vicinity
in search of a suitable area for the demonstration. The characterization concluded in January,
1998 with the installation of the demonstration well array and aquifer testing. Information obtained
during this investigation was used to build a geosystem model. The numerical code used for the
model is UTCHEM, a multi-phase, multi-dimensional chemical compositional simulator developed
at the University of Texas at Austin.
A major challenge of this project has been to develop a surfactant that is capable of effectively
solubilizing the NSFO. The NSFO in the demonstration area is highly viscous (2,000 to 3,000 cp)
and is not readily solubilized by commercially available surfactants. Laboratory work conducted on
solubilizing the recalcitrant NAPL at Pearl Harbor eventually led to the development of a new
surfactant and includes the additional requirement that the subsurface be heated to approximately
50°C to achieve satisfactory remediation performance.
To accurately assess the efficiency of the SEAR demonstration, two partitioning interwell tracer
tests (PITTs) will be conducted at the SEAR site. The first PITT will be performed to accurately
measure the volume of NAPL present in the test zone before the surfactant flood. The SEAR will
be immediately followed by a second PITT to measure the volume of DNAPL remaining in the test
zone. PITT 1 and PITT 2 will be compared to evaluate the effectiveness (i.e. performance
assessment) of the surfactant flood to remove DNAPL from the test zone. Laboratory studies have
been completed to select a suite of conservative (non-partitioning) and partitioning tracers for the
Ground-Water Remediation Technologies Analysis Center
Operated by Concurrent Technologies Corporation
Appendix - Page 131 of 164
Copyright GWRTAC 1998
Revision 1
Tuesday, November 17, 1998