These are well-known facilities common to environmental cleanups. Our laboratory studies and field results indicate that the desired contaminant removal is achieved when every area in the target zone has been brought up to boiling and held there for a period of weeks to months. In Figure 2A and 2B, steam is starting to break through in the groundwater, condensing to hot water at the steam front. Contaminants with very low boiling points will be pushed ahead of the steam front towards the extraction wells, pulled by the vacuum. Injection of oxygen into the steam zone is used to stimulate degradation reactions such as HPO and biological mineralization.
Cyclic operation is used to optimize oxygen delivery and mixing.
The strategy for the heating may be adjusted in the course of remediation, since daily monitoring of temperatures and electrical resistance allows for excellent process control. Typical adjustments are steam injection pressure regulations on individual wells, adjustment of the applied vacuum at the wells, and adjustment of the liquid pumping rates. Since every site is unique, SteamTech uses all available data to tailor a well-field and operational design to each site. As a consequence, every project to date has used different designs. SteamTech offers consulting and design services on a site specific basis, since all aspects of geology, hydrology, geochemistry and contaminant physics must be carefully addressed.