EPA has other resources summarizing the progress of bioremediation technologies. A brief summary of the technologies and report contents follows. Physical site conditions, not chemical reactions, are the major controlling factors on the use of this technology. The thermal enhancement status report discusses 16 completed, ongoing or future demonstrations. The 11 completed demonstrations provide some cost and performance information.
Surfactants increase the solubility of the contaminant in water.
They also directly mobilize the contaminant by reducing interfacial tension between the contaminant and the soil matrix. The report contains nine research projects, six ongoing or future demonstrations, three completed demonstrations and one commercial application. The target contaminants were VOCs, SVOCs, BTEX and PCBs. Continued surfactant research is important. Treatment walls are vertical treatment zones installed across the flow path of a contaminant plume to treat the contaminants as the plume passes through the zone.