1. Land Contamination Management &
Site Remediation
By ::
By
Mr Manas Orpe
Mr Manas Orpe
(BE Chemical Engineering)
(BE Chemical Engineering)
Under the supervision of:
Under the supervision of:
Prof K N Bawankar
Prof K N Bawankar
Department of Chemical Engineering,
Department of Chemical Engineering,
AISSMS College of Engineering, Pune-1
AISSMS College of Engineering, Pune-1
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2. Contents
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Pollution and Contamination
Land Contamination
Health Effects
Site Remediation Steps
Risk Assessment
Options Appraisal
Verification Plans
Implementation of Strategy
Remediation Technologies
PIL
Conclusions
References
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3. Pollution and Contamination
• In short, there is very little difference between Pollution and
Contamination, especially in environmental terms.
• Pollution can be considered to be something which is not
welcomed in the environment. Contamination is more often
used to refer to a substance which has been introduced to
another substance, generally giving an adverse affect.
• Pollution clean-up / remediation of soils or water would
involve exactly the same actions as Contamination clean-up /
remediation.
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4. Land Contamination
• Defined as the introduction of a substance into the land so
that its quality and function are adversely affected.
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5. Health Effects
• Chronic exposure to chromium, lead and other metals,
petroleum, solvents, and many pesticide and herbicide
formulations can be carcinogenic.
• Chronic exposure to benzene at sufficient concentrations is
known to be associated with higher incidence of leukemia.
• Organophosphates and carbomates can induce a chain of
responses leading to neuromuscular blockage.
• Mercury linked to higher incidences of kidney damage.
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6. Site Remediation Steps
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7. Risk Assessment
• The purpose of preliminary risk assessment is to develop an
initial conceptual model of the site and establish whether or
not there are potentially unacceptable risks.
• Information collection may include:
i. Desk study
ii. Site reconnaissance
iii. Additional desk study and exploratory site investigation
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8. Options Appraisal
• A feasible remediation option is one that is likely to meet
defined, site-specific objectives relating to both the pollutant
linkage and the wider management context for the site as a
whole.
• The purpose of this stage of options appraisal is to develop a
remediation strategy capable of practical implementation on
the site and to describe in broad terms the characteristics of
that strategy.
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9. Verification Plan
• It is a document that gives requirements for gathering data to
demonstrate that remediation meets the remediation
objectives and remediation criteria.
• It includes sampling and testing criteria( eg. field monitoring
data, analytical data, level surveys above and below capping
layers).
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10. Implementation Of The Remediation
Strategy
• Deals
with
all
aspects
of
the
design,
preparation,
implementation, verification, and long-term monitoring and
maintenance of remediation.
• Elements of design are passed onto the specialist subconsultants or contractors, the design needs to also be
subject to proper checking and quality assurance procedures.
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11. Remediation Technologies
• Remediation technologies are many and varied but can be
categorized into ex-situ and in-situ methods.
• The more traditional remediation approach consists primarily
of soil excavation(disposal to landfill “dig and dump”)
and groundwater(pump and treat).
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12. Excavation or dredging
• Excavation processes
can
be
as
simple
as
hauling
the contaminated soil to a regulated landfill.
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Fig. 1 Excavated Area
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13. SEARsurfactant enhanced aquifer remediation
• Also known as Solubilization and recovery, the Surfactant
Enhanced Aquifer Remediation process involves the injection
of hydrocarbon mitigation agents into the subsurface.
• In geological formations that allow delivery of hydrocarbon
mitigation agents, this approach provides a cost effective and
permanent solution.
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14. Contd.
• This technology is also successful when utilized as the initial
step in a multi faceted remedial approach.
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15. Solidification and Stabilization
• Stabilization - involves the addition of reagents to a
contaminated material (e.g. soil or sludge) to produce more
chemically stable constituents.
• Solidification - involves addition of reagents to impart
stability to contain contaminants in a solid product and
reduce access by external agents (e.g. air, rainfall).
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16. However, the uptake of S/S technology has been relatively
modest, and a number of barriers have been identified
including:
•the lack of authoritative technical guidance on S/S;
•uncertainty over the durability and rate of contaminant release
from S/S-treated material;
•experiences of past poor practice in the application of cement
stabilization processes used in waste disposal in the 1980s and
1990s; and
•residual liability associated with immobilized contaminants
remaining on-site, rather than their removal or destruction.
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17. 16/10/13
Fig. 2 Solidification and Stabilization
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18. Pump and Treat
• Pump
and
treat involves
pumping
out
contaminated
groundwater with the use of a submersible or vacuum pump
and then treating it.
• For
petroleum-contaminated
sites
this
material
is
usually activated carbon in granular form.
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19. • It is expensive and a very slow process.
• Other methods include trying to increase the dissolved
oxygen content of the groundwater to support microbial
degradation of the compound.
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Fig. 3 Pump and treat
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20. Soil vapor extraction
• SVE utilizes different technologies to treat the off-gas volatile
organic compounds (VOCs) generated after vacuum removal
of air and vapors (and VOCs) from the subsurface.
• Carbon is used for low (<500ppm) VOC concentration,
oxidation is used for moderate (up to 4,000 ppm) VOC
concentration, and vapor condensation is used for high
(>4,000 ppm) VOC concentration.
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21. • Vapour condensation involves cryogenically cooling the vapor
stream to below 40 degrees C such that the VOCs condensate
out of the vapor stream and into liquid form where it is
collected in steel containers.
• This recovered chemical can then be reused or recycled in a
more environmentally sustainable or green manner.
• This technology is also known as cryogenic cooling and
compression (C3-Technology).
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22. 16/10/13
Fig. 4 Soil Vapour Extraction Technique
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23. Public Interest Litigation
• Riverine pollution by tanneries, industrial effluents, and
untreated sewage;
• Soil and groundwater pollution;
• Indiscriminate mining;
• Protection of forests;
• Fencing of parks and sanctuaries;
• Preservation of monuments of archaeological and historical
significance and their protection from vandalism; and
• Automobile pollution.
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24. Fines and Closure Notices
Examples :
•Manufacturer of potassium and sodium bichromate (Gujarat)
•Dyeing units located in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu
•Steel manufacturing facility, Kalmeshwar, Maharastra
•Manufacturing facility located in Aurangabad
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25. Conclusions
• Despite the absence of a concise regulatory framework to
deal with polluted sites in India, PILs have given the judiciary
enormous scope for intervening in environmental matters
and passing severe penalties against companies that have
been found guilty.
• As for the technologies for remediation, they are expensive
but need to be done for the environmental health and safety.
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26. References
1. Mary Harris, Judith Lowe, Phil Crowcroft & Casella
Stanger, “Contaminated land report, Model Procedures
for Management of Land Contamination”, 2008
2. The Water Act (Prevention and Control of Pollution) 1974
3. Hazardous Wastes (Management & Handling)
Amendment Rules, 2003
4. Ravi Costa and Sanjay Sampath, “India: Environmental
Liability and Contamination Regulations”, EHS Journal,
2011
5. Snyder C., "The dirty work of promoting "recycling" of
America's sewage sludge“, Int J Occup Environ Health,
Issue(4)(2005), 415–427
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27. THANK YOU
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