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Mobility control: How injected surfactants and biostimulants may be forced into low‐permeability units
Author(s) -
Jackson Richard E.,
Dwarakanath Varadarajan,
Meinardus Hans W.,
Young Carl M.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
remediation journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.762
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 1520-6831
pISSN - 1051-5658
DOI - 10.1002/rem.10074
Subject(s) - environmental remediation , petroleum engineering , aquifer , permeability (electromagnetism) , pulmonary surfactant , environmental science , clogging , petroleum , enhanced oil recovery , waste management , contamination , geology , chemistry , chemical engineering , geotechnical engineering , groundwater , membrane , engineering , history , ecology , paleontology , biochemistry , archaeology , biology
Recovering dense nonaqueous‐phase liquid (DNAPL) remains one of the most difficult problemsfacing the remediation industry. Still, the most common method of recovering DNAPL is to physically remove thecontaminants using common technologies such as total fluids recovery pumps, vacuum systems, and“pump‐and‐treat.” Increased DNAPL removal can be attained using surfactants tomobilize and/or solubilize the pollutants. However, very little is understood of the methods developed bypetroleum engineers beginning in the 1960s to overcome by‐passed, low‐permeability zones inheterogeneous oil reservoirs. By injecting or causing the formation of viscous fluids in the subsurface,petroleum engineers caused increased in‐situ pressures that forced fluid flow into low permeability unitsas well as the higher permeability thief zones. Polymer flooding involves injecting a viscous aqueous polymersolution into the contaminated aquifer. Foam flooding involves injecting surfactant to decontaminate thehigh‐permeability zones and then periodic pulses of air to cause a temporary viscous foam to form in thehigh‐permeable zones after all DNAPL is removed. Later surfactant pulses are directed by the foam intounswept low‐permeable units. These methods have been applied to DNAPL removal using surfactants but theycan also be applied to the injection of bio‐amendments into low‐permeability zones still requiringcontinued remediation. Here we discuss the principles of mobility control as practiced in an alluvial aquifercontaminated with chlorinated solvent and coal tar DNAPLs as well as some field results. © 2003 WileyPeriodicals, Inc.