NAPL Recovery
Environment
Groundwater, the largest source of fresh water reservoir available to humanity, is the water which saturates in the pores of soil, sediment, and narrow fractures in bedrock. One out of three Canadians relies on groundwater as a source of water supply. Unfortunately, there are many sites in Ontario, Canada and in the world where aquifers are contaminated by non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs), and which conventional pump-and-treat remediation systems have proved to be ineffective and costly. Therefore, there is a need for developing enhanced aquifer remediation techniques in order to find an appropriate method for contaminants removal. New processes for recovering source residual NAPL contaminations trapped in heterogeneous aquifers are being studied in our company. The investigations will assist figure out different NAPL recovery mechanisms involved in the recovery processes by combination of laboratory works, field studies and mathematical modeling. The research project will provide a tool for the design and prediction of the new proposed remediation technologies in the future commercialization.