Steam Remediation of Contaminated Soil: A Simulation Study

by
William R. Schoen, M.S.E.

University of Texas at Austin, 1994
Co-Supervisors: Dr. Mark A. Miller
Dr. Kamy Sepehrnoori

Several million underground and aboveground storage sites in the United States contain petroleum, solvents, and other hazardous chemicals. Of these storage sites, an estimated 30% are leaking their contents into the soil. While various technologies exist for the remediation of the contaminated soil, they are relatively incapable of fully cleaning the soil when the contaminant has a low water solubility or a low vapor pressure.

Under these conditions, steam stripping the contaminant from the soil can be of great use. Although the petroleum industry has used this process for many years, it is just now beginning to gain recognition in the remediation industry as a valuable tool. Several proprietary models have been developed for use in the unsaturated vadose zone, with some authors claiming that oilfield simulators cannot be used in this zone.

A commercial thermal compositional simulator was used to show that such simulators can indeed be used in this area. The program was compared against laboratory results for steam displacement of xylene as well as against a field test. In both cases, the simulator gave results comparable to those published by the respective authors.

Back to theses index