Crude oil impacts of soil at every stage of creation and consumption of petroleum products pose a global environmental hazard. Remediation techniques such as thermal desorption and phytoremediation are already used on large scales but are not practical for all impact sites. Hydrocarbons in the range from approximately C16-C40 are especially troublesome; they are relatively recalcitrant but still mobile enough in soils for exposure to organisms and groundwater. The high power density heating and radicals generated by electron beam irradiation show potential as a novel remediation technique for petroleum impacted soils.
Previous research has demonstrated the efficacy of electron beam irradiation as a remediation technology. More recently, treatment of soil samples has shown reductions to below 1% TPH at the high power densities required for the technology to be practical at site scales. Building on these results, additional experiments and simulations have been performed to prepare this technology for field application. These experiments have focused on development of soil handling systems and optimization of treatment parameters.

Primary Author / Conference Presenter:
John Lassalle
Graduate Research Assistant
Texas A&M University – Mechanical Engineering
College Station, Texas, USA
www.engineering.tamu.edu/mechanical

Co-Authors:
Robert Rodi, Kenneth Briggs, David Staack (Principal Investigator & Corresponding Author)
Texas A&M University, J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering

Thomas P. Hoelen, Paul Bireta, Deyuan Kong and Gabriel P. Sabadell
Chevron Energy Technology Company, USA