Performance Assessment of In-Well Aeration for the Remediation of an Aquifer Contaminated by a Multicomponent Immiscible Liquid

A pilot-scale test to evaluate the performance of a vertical recirculation well equipped with an in-well air stripper was conducted at Hill AFB, Utah, in an aquifer contaminated with petroleum and chlorinated solvents. During the two months of operation, the air stripping system was found to remove more than 26% of the combined mass of ten representative contaminants from water passing through the well. The cell-wide performance was evaluated by comparing the contaminant concentrations for aquifer core samples collected before and after the test and by comparing the average immiscible liquid saturations determined with partitioning tracer tests conducted before and after operation. The net magnitude of remediation was low (<1%) due to the low aqueous concentrations of the predominant treatable contaminants at the site and the impact of the vertical gradients on immiscible liquid mobilization.