A Bench-scale Study on Diesel Oil Removal from Saturated Soil and Groundwater Using Air Sparging

Air sparging is an innovative in-situ remediation technology,which has been widely used to reduce concentrations of volatile organic contaminants in groundwater and soil environment.However,engineering design of this technology is largely dependent on empirical knowledge and experience of the design engineers,which contributes to the current uncertainties regarding the mechanisms of contaminants removal.Thus,understanding and characterisation of the affect factors during in-situ remediation using air sparging should be further studied for more robust and effective remediation.Serials of one-dimension experiments for fate and transport of TPH in soil and groundwater were conducted using bench-scale air sparging systems in plexiglass columns in this study.Two major factors(particle size and air flow) that can impact air sparging were investigated from these experiments,which can improve the confidence and reduce uncertainty in field application of this technology.The bench-scale study indicated that: air sparging is an effective technology for removal of volatile contaminants.The increase of air flow can lead the improvement of diesel oil removal,and the higher the soil permeability is,the much better the removal efficiency will be.All of the conclusions can be guidances for other related studies.