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Butane Biostimulation Technologies TM Paired with SVES to Remediate Petroleum Pollutants

In October 2001, GBI installed one Butane Injector 2000TM panel at a petroleum contaminated service station in Winthrop, Massachusetts. In 1998, the site soil and groundwater were impacted by a release from a leak in a product line associated with a UST. The release also produced gasoline vapors that were detected in a building adjacent to the property. Drilling activities revealed the presence of VOCs in soil and product on the water table. Following the removal of the product via an ORS product recovery well, and product recovery tank, as well as removal of 500 yards of contaminated soil, a soil vapor extraction system (SVES) was installed. The system operated for 18 months before being shut down earlier this year.

Due to the high cost of monthly carbon canister replacement for the SVES and the system's inability to treat Site groundwater, the site owner decided to take a more aggressive approach to remediation. After seeing the results of the successful treatment of gasoline constituents in groundwater at a Sunoco service station in Massachusetts, the owner chose to use biobutane services to clean up the soil and groundwater at the Site. In May 2001, an Immediate Response Action (IRA) Plan Modification was submitted to the Massachusetts DEP for the implementation of Butane Biostimulation TechnologiesTM.

In August 2001, GBI conducted a four week biofeasibility study using Site-specific groundwater. The data obtained from the study confirmed that butane-utilizing bacteria capable of effectively degrading the target pollutants existed at the site.

The Butane Injection System will operate concurrently with the SVES, which will be used to maintain a vacuum within vadose zone soils. The SVES will attempt to control potential migration of VOCs from the treatment area into adjacent buildings. In addition, the SVES will further oxygenate soils resulting in enhanced microbial degradation of petroleum compounds in the capillary fringe and vadose zone. The effluent from the SVE system will be piped back into the biobutane treatment zone, thus allowing vapor control while reducing the overall O&M costs by eliminating the need for carbon replacement or regeneration and by recycling the butane gas.

This approach, utilizing the two technologies in conjunction to attack petroleum contamination, will also be implemented at two additional Massachusetts sites in Waltham and Fairhaven in November and December.