Large-Scale Demonstration of Bioventing in the Northern United States; Volume 2: Appendices 1 thru 11

This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of bioventing for remediating petroleum hydrocarbons under the colder climatic conditions that exist in the northern United States. The study was conducted in an abandoned fire training pit (FPTA#1) at F.E. Warren AFB, Wyoming. The study included a 26-month field effort that entailed examining pure oxygen, pulsed air injection and passive soil warming for the potential to enhance biodegradation performance. The data demonstrated the effectiveness of bioventing for remediating hydrocarbon contamination commonly associated with fire training pits showing decreases in the mass of semi-volatile TPH, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes and naphthalene of 52.4, 76.4, 37.2, 19.0 and 18.0 percent, respectively. The masses of volatile TPH and xylene were shown to increase 36.5 and 57.1 percent, respectively. Biodegradation rates were calculated based on measured oxygen utilization rates and showed that there was no significant enhancement due to passive soil warming below the 3-foot depth. Neither pulsed air nor pure oxygen injection significantly affected the biodegradation rates compared to conventional continuous air injection. It was concluded that bioventing was effective at remediating contamination resulting from fire training exercises in colder climates, that although there was a slight benefit at the shallow depths the passive soil warming method was not useful, and that pulsed air or pure oxygen was not useful for increasing biodegradation rates. See also volume 1, ADA585049, and volume 3, ADA585051. Vol 1 (AL/EQ-TR-1995-0043-01) contains the basic report; Vol 2 (AL/EQ-TR-1995-0043-02) contains appendices 1 thru 11; and Vol 3 (AL/EQ-TR-1995-0043-03) contains appendices 12 thru 33.