Vadose Zone Remediation

At many facilities, vadose zones are impacted with chlorinated solvents and pose a long term groundwater threat. Residual contamination bound to soils in the unsaturated zone represents a continuing source of groundwater contamination.  To specifically target the "vadose zone" addresses an area that has been difficult to remediate.  Soil vapor extraction (SVE) can be very effective at removing chlorinated solvents in permeable sediments.  At sites with lower permeability zones, SVE is less effective.  Remediation time at these sites is controlled by slow diffusion.

Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has developed a treatment technique for remediation of the vadose zone (i.e, the unsaturated zone between the land surface and the water table) that employs sustainable green chemistry.   The addition of vegetable oils to the vadose zone as high viscosity oil/water suspensions offers the following benefits:  maintains high saturation levels, sequesters the contaminants, provides food for microorganisms and stimulates biodegradation activity.  This results in a high level of sustained bioactivity and accelerated cleanup time.   This technology is exclusively licensed to EOS Remediation.

The use of a "Thixotropic Gel for Vadose Zone Remediation", VOS^TM, is a significant advancement in the treatment of unsaturated soils. The unique thixotropic nature provides the ability of this gel to form a stable oil/water suspension that will remain in place after injection into the vadose zone.  This has applications to a number of environmental problems.  The substrate will increase saturation and lateral spreading and prevent downward migration of contaminants. Initial results indicated that the VOS^TM Technology can cost-effectively turn land once deemed unusable into productive and safe real estate. 

The VOS^TM technology is a complementary technology to our EOS^® family of products and can be manufactured at any of our nationwide facilities.  VOS^TM further expands our product offerings and fills the niche market for specialized technology for in situ anaerobic bioremediation of unsaturated soil.  We'll communicate more on these developments within the next couple of months.