EPA Research Partner Support Story: Thermal remediation of waste oils
Partner: New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES)
Challenge: Suitable technologies to remediate waste oils and chlorinated solvents at the Beede Waste Oil Superfund Site
Resource: Technology transfer of Steam Enhanced Extraction and technical support for thermal remediation of waste oils
Project Period: 2007 – Present
The Beede Waste Oil Superfund Site is located in Plaistow, NH within a predominantly residential area. Prior commercial operations at the site, which began in 1926, included storage and distribution of fuel oil and recycling of used oil. Spills, leaks from storage tanks, and discharges to lagoons on the site created subsurface plumes of light nonaqueous phase liquids (LNAPL) that contained a wide variety of petroleum hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and chlorinated solvents. The Record of Decision (ROD) chose soil vapor extraction to remediate the smear zone of LNAPL, with a contingency for thermal enhancements if it was determined during the design stage that this was needed in order to meet the site soil cleanup goals. The ROD also included a groundwater extraction system to extract the downgradient dissolved phase plume.
“US EPA ORD personnel have provided invaluable technical support to the Beede Waste Oil government team.” – NHDES Waste Management Division Ken Richards
In 2007, NHDES and EPA Region 1 (New England) requested EPA ORD technical assistance to aid in determining if a thermal enhancement to the groundwater extraction system would be required to meet soil cleanup goals, and if so, which of the thermal technologies would be most applicable to this site. In addition, ORD personnel provided technical support on delineation of the area to be treated using thermal remediation.
In 2010, ORD completed a bench scale treatability study that demonstrated that steam injection remediation of the soils was capable of reducing contaminant concentrations to meet the cleanup criteria. Subsequently, Steam Enhanced Extraction (SEE) was chosen as the remediation technique for the two LNAPL-contaminated areas that were delineated by the site characterization activities. From 2015 to 2016, SEE was used to successfully meet the soil cleanup criteria in the Phase 1 area, with the injection of 28.7 million pounds of steam and the recovery of more than 150,000 pounds of contaminants. In late 2018, steam injection was initiated in the Phase 2 treatment area, and this portion of the remediation was completed in the Fall of 2019 with the attainment of the soil cleanup goals. Approximately 66.3 million pounds of steam were injected in the Phase 2 area, and 177,300 pounds of contaminants were recovered.
More information can be found on the Beede Waste Oil Superfund Site profile.