Abstract:
Branched alkyl propoxylated sulfate surfactants were synthesized and tested to evaluate
their effectiveness in removing nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) from soils. These new
surfactants show favorable biodegradation behavior and are highly effective in removing
complex field NAPLs under a wide variety of conditions. Laboratory tests clearly show
the benefits of using a highly branched alcohol to make surfactants for surfactant
enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR). The temperature range for these experiments was
11 °C to 50 °C. For the case of a NAPL with the exceptionally high viscosity of
1000 cp at groundwater temperature, increasing the temperature to 50 °C greatly
improved the performance of the surfactant. An optimized surfactant flood removed 97%
of this very viscous NAPL in a soil column experiment. A thermally enhanced surfactant
flood at 50 °C was later conducted at the field site and found to perform very well
with 88% removal of the NAPL from the target zones. The flexibility to tailor these
surfactants to specific field conditions is a significant advantage and clearly advances
SEAR technology in a very significant way with increased flexibility and performance,
and lower cost taking into account the higher performance characteristics.
Reference:
V. Dwarakanath, L. Britton, S. Jayanti, K.C. Ooi, G.A. Pope, and V. Weerasooriya,
"Thermally Enhanced Surfactant Remediation," Proceedings of the Seventh Annual
International Petroleum Environmental Conference, Albuquerque, NM, 7-10 November
2000.
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Last updated: April 25, 2002