2019 SMART Remediation Edmonton – March 20, 2019

Chet Clarke, Shell Global Solutions (US), Inc.
An Industry Perspective: Enabling Effective Contaminated Land Management
Bio | Abstract | Presentation

Matthew Gardner, Willms & Shier Environmental
Environmental Prosecutions – Latest Cases and Defence Strategies
Bio | Abstract | Presentation

Katrine Nielsen, Berkley Canada
Managing Consultant and Contractor Risk & Environmental Insurance
Bio | Abstract | Presentation

Joe Ricker, EarthCon Consultants, Inc.
Plume Stability Analysis and other Groundwater Analytics Tools for Evaluating Petroleum Bulk Terminal Sites
Bio | Abstract

Phil Dennis, SiREM
Advances in Anaerobic Bioremediation of Benzene
Bio | Abstract | Presentation

Advances in Anaerobic Bioremediation of Benzene

Widespread use of petroleum products has resulted in contamination with BTEX compounds at numerous sites. BTEX compounds, which are the most soluble of petroleum hydrocarbons, can readily biodegrade under aerobic conditions, however where anaerobic conditions prevail, natural attenuation of BTEX has also been observed. Most often, under anaerobic conditions, benzene is observed to persist, due to its recalcitrance to degradation and can become a regulatory driver for remediation. Several benzene degrading cultures have been identified including a methanogenic benzene enrichment culture (DGG-B), developed at the University of Toronto. DGG-B transforms benzene and produces methane and the key benzene degrader, Deltaproteobacteria ORM2, has been identified. This culture also degrades benzene under sulfate reducing conditions. Recent research efforts have been undertaken to determine 1) whether bioaugmentation with the DGG-B culture is an effective remedy for benzene contaminated sites; 2) if the presence of benzene degrading biomarkers can be correlated to in situ biodegradation activity and 3) if scale up of the culture to volumes sufficient for field pilot testing application is feasible. Numerous anaerobic treatability studies have been conducted using site materials impacted with petroleum hydrocarbons. The time frame for these treatability studies ranged from 8 to 14 months. Degradation of BTEX was monitored with and without DGG-B bioaugmentation and under various electron acceptor conditions. The results to date indicate that bioaugmentation with the DGG-B culture was able to accelerate benzene degradation under methanogenic or sulfate-reducing conditions, while in one case, no benzene degradation was observed despite bioaugmentation. Samples from the original groundwater materials, as well as microcosm samples were taken, to quantify the potential benzene degraders via quantitative PCR testing. The results indicated that increases in Deltaproteobacteria ORM2, the benzene degrader in DGG-B, were corelated with benzene degradation. Also, the putative benzene carboxylase gene (abcA) known to be related to a Peptococcaceae sp., that degrades benzene under nitrate reducing conditions, was detected by qPCR in two groundwater samples. In microcosms where benzene carboxylase was detected, benzene degraded intrinsically, although at much slower rates compared to the bioaugmented microcosms. Results from ongoing treatability studies will be presented to provide insights into the performance of the DGG-B bioaugmentation culture at a range of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated sites, as well as into the correlation between the presence of benzene degradation molecular biomarkers and in situ biodegradation.

Ben Poltorak, Earthmaster Environmental Strategies Inc.
Phytoremediation of Contaminated Soil in a Remote Northern Location – A Cost Effective and Predictive Remediation Strategy
Bio | Abstract | Presentation

Phytoremediation of Contaminated Soil in a Remote Northern Location – A Cost Effective and Predictive Remediation Strategy

Earthmaster has successfully developed and implemented plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) enhanced phytoremediation systems (PEPSystems™) for cost effective removal of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and salt from soils. PEPSystems facilitates the production of abundant root biomass and the exponential growth of rhizobacteria which facilitates degradation of PHCs and sequesters salt into plant foliage. PEPSystems has been successfully deployed on many sites across seven Canadian provinces and territories to remediate PHC and salt contamination in soil. PEPSystems has provided significant cost savings and has proven to be very effective in remediating soils in remote/northern areas, where harsh conditions and permafrost exist, and access to landfill facilities is not practical. This presentation will detail phytoremediation activities, field results, and final site closure requirements associated with remediation of PHC and salt contaminated soil at a remote Northwest Territories (NT) well site. PEPSystems was first deployed at the Nota Creek C-17 site near Norman Wells, NT in 2008 to treat historical oil and gas related contamination. Between 2008 and 2010, the surface soil containing elevated salt levels was successfully phytoremediated. In 2011, PHC contaminated soil was partially excavated and placed upon the on-site treatment area or stockpiled for future treatment. This excavated soil was successfully phytoremediated between 2011 and 2016. In 2017, the remaining in-situ PHC impacted soil was excavated, placed onto the treatment area, and was successfully phytoremediated. Backfilling the excavations and recontouring the site using the treated soil plus re-vegetation of the site was completed in 2018 to comply with NT reclamation requirements. Overall remediation costs were significantly less than if offsite landfill disposal or other non-passive remedial technologies would have been utilized. Kinetic modeling of PEPSystems performance will also be discussed as the basis for predicting the length of time required to remediate PHC contaminated sites.

Jean Paré, Chemco inc.
Benefits of Combining In Situ Chemical Oxidation with In Situ Stabilization: Synergies and Solutions for Complex Sites
Bio | Abstract | Presentation

Benefits of Combining In Situ Chemical Oxidation with In Situ Stabilization: Synergies and Solutions for Complex Sites

In situ solidification/stabilization (ISS) has been used at many manufactured gas plant (MGP), brownfield, and Superfund sites. ISS mixes cementitious reagents with contaminated soils reducing the bioavailability and leachability of contaminants. ISS can also be optimized to control certain ll soil characteristics, such as compressive soil strength and reduce hydraulic conductivity. Various reagents are used to promote ISS including Portland cement, blast furnace slag, lime kiln dust, etc. Several of these reagents contain calcium oxide (CaO), also known as quick lime. For example, Portland cement (PC) consists of 60% to 68% CaO by weight. ISS is often applied at highly contaminated petroleum hydrocarbon sites decreasing the leachability of BTEX, naphthalene (NAP) and other organic contaminant in soil. Cementation reactions also decrease hydraulic conductivity (K), which diverts groundwater flow away from the solidified/stabilized soil. ISS treatment also increases unconfined compressive strength (UCS), often critical for redevelopment. However, high concentrations of organic contaminant can interfere with cementation reactions requiring excessive application of amendments increasing both amendment and disposal costs of the displaced soil. This ISS limitation can be minimized by utilizing a combined remedy approach like In Situ Chemical Oxidation to degrade some of the organic contaminants present. ISCO combined with ISS has been found to be able to achieve the same or better leachability and compressive soil strength values with less overall reagent addition and displaced soils. Combining one or more remediation technology generates synergies by exploiting the strengths and minimizing the weak- nesses inherent in individual technologies. When successful, combining remedies enhances performance and/or reduces costs compared to each technology used alone. Approach/Activities. This presentation will review the advantages and limitations of using the combined ISCO/ISS remedy on a contaminated soil from different petroleum hydrocarbon sites.. The presentation will review current literature and explore both bench and field data demonstrating the successes of ISCO-ISS as a combined remedy. The objectives of this study generated by Srivastava et al. were to quantify (1) the ability of a wide range of doses of ISS-activated SP to degrade BTEX and PAH (2) the impact of BTEX and PAH removal from chemical oxidation during ISCO/ISS treatment on synthetic precipitation leaching procedure (SPLP) measurements, compared with a wide range of ISS doses alone (3) the effect of activated PS on other ISS performance parameters, such as hydraulic conductivity and unconfined compressive strength Results/Lessons Learned. Activated SP chemically oxidized a significant portion of the COCs for all the ISCO/ISS treatments, and the mass of COCs oxidized increased with increasing SP dose. The lowest molecular weight contaminants were preferentially oxidized. For the same PC dose, combined ISCO/ISS treatment was more far effective in reducing contaminant leachability than ISS treatment alone, because of the COC removal achieved by the ISCO (activated SP) component.

Heather Lord, Maxxam
Accurate and Quantifiable Characterization of Biogenic vs. Petrogenic Hydrocarbons in Soil
Bio | Abstract | Presentation

Accurate and Quantifiable Characterization of Biogenic vs. Petrogenic Hydrocarbons in Soil

Soil samples containing high levels of naturally occurring organic (biogenic) material can produce false positives when measuring petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) using CCME Tier I protocols. This can lead to costly remedial activities where no significant PHC impacts are present. This is because biogenic hydrocarbons in muskegs and peats for example, are extracted along with petrogenic (petroleum-based) hydrocarbons. If not properly removed from the extract, biogenic materials are included in the reported PHC result, potentially resulting in concentrations above regulatory standards. CCME methods describe procedures to remove the biogenic species prior to analysis, however, the procedures may be ineffective where the organic content exceeds the capacity of the clean-up procedures to remove them. Non-petroleum hydrocarbons can by identified by GC/MS analysis, however this does not quantify the biogenics contribution to the PHC result and the approach often fails due to co-eluting PHCs. Alternative approaches are available, including among others: 1) Visual evaluation of GC chromatograms for characteristic biogenic hydrocarbon peak patterns; 2) Determining ratios of hydrocarbon concentrations in regions of the chromatogram known to contain vs. not contain biogenic material; and 3) Comprehensive 2-dimensional (2-D) GC evaluation of the proportion of peak area in the 2-D space characteristic of biogenic hydrocarbons. Although useful for identifying potential biogenic bias, these methods still have limitations: 1) May not fully isolate all biogenic materials from petrogenics; 2) Extracts for GC/MS analysis may contain interfering species that preclude accurate identification of biogenic materials; and 3) Results are not obtained in accordance with CCME prescribed procedures. This presentation describes a novel method for the separation and determination of petrogenic and biogenic hydrocarbons from a soil sample. The method is based on an Environment Canada report from 2013*, which describes a column fractionation process to efficiently separate the petrogenic and biogenic components of biodiesel and quantify them separately. Multiple recovery surrogates are used to verify the efficient separation of the components. Because the range of polar biogenic materials in a biodiesel is similar to the biogenic materials arising from soil organic matter, the method appeared ideally suited for soil biogenic hydrocarbon determination. Additionally, the extraction protocols described in the Environment Canada method are similar to those prescribed by CCME for analysis of PHCs in soil and quantification of the obtained extracts by CCME prescribed methods is identical. In this presentation we will demonstrate how this method has been applied to soils with a wide range organic content, contaminated with different types and amounts of PHCs. Advantages of this method include: 1) Use of CCME prescribed methods; 2) Additional recovery surrogate standards for both biogenic and petroleum hydrocarbons are used, demonstrating efficient separation of PHCs from biogenics; 3) The biogenic extract is clean, allowing for accurate GC/MS characterization if required.

Kevin French, Vertex Environmental
Remediation of Petroleum Hydrocarbons, Case Studies Using the Trap and Treat Technique
Bio | Abstract | Presentation

Remediation of Petroleum Hydrocarbons, Case Studies Using the Trap and Treat Technique

Organic contaminants in groundwater, including Petroleum Hydrocarbons (PHCs) and other organic contaminants, often represent significant legacy environmental concerns at Brownfield and other contaminated sites. Soil is often quickly and easily remediated; however, relatively minor residuals of contamination remaining in the soil (or bedrock) matrix, even at concentrations below soil quality standards, can result in “rebound” of the compounds in groundwater to concentrations above actionable standards. This is due to the slow and steady back-diffusion of the organic contaminants out of the solid matrix over time. This phenomenon, combined with the orders of magnitude lower concentrations typically allowed in groundwater, is often problematic for site closure. Many common in-situ remedial technologies have significant limitations in addressing back-diffusion including: the requirement for multiple applications of amendments; effectiveness limited to specific contaminants and not others; low persistence; low efficiency; potential for generation of more toxic degradation products, etc. Most of these approaches also require relatively long timeframes to implement (months to years). In the past several years, Vertex has observed first-hand how injecting Activated Carbon (AC)-based amendments, such as Trap & Treat®, can be used to provide a quick, effective and sustained treatment for PHCs and other organic contaminants in a matter of weeks. Previously, the use of AC in the subsurface was limited due to the finite adsorptive capacity of the AC emplaced. New technologies allow for both adsorption and subsequent treatment of organic contaminants using efficient modalities. PHCs are treated via anaerobic biodegradation, which provides a more efficient and sustained treatment compared to aerobic biodegradation. As contaminants are degraded, adsorption sites on the AC once again become accessible to quickly adsorb more contamination from the groundwater, thus overcoming the back-diffusion challenge. Real-world, Canadian case studies of sites where these innovative in-situ remedial technologies have been applied will be presented and discussed, together with follow-up performance monitoring data. The use of these adsorptive technologies may allow more Brownfields and other contaminated sites to quickly be brought to closure, while minimizing long-term risks over contaminant “rebound”.

2019 SMART Remediation Edmonton – March 20, 2019

Speakers

Chet Clarke

An Industry Perspective: Enabling Effective Contaminated Land Management

Matthew Gardner

Environmental Prosecutions – Latest Cases and Defence Strategies

Katrine Nielsen

Managing Consultant and Contractor Risk & Environmental Insurance

Joe Ricker

Plume Stability Analysis and other Groundwater Analytics Tools for Evaluating Petroleum Bulk Terminal Sites

Phil Dennis

Advances in Anaerobic Bioremediation of Benzene

Ben Poltorak

Phytoremediation of Contaminated Soil in a Remote Northern Location – A Cost Effective and Predictive Remediation Strategy

Jean Paré

Benefits of Combining In Situ Chemical Oxidation with In Situ Stabilization: Synergies and Solutions for Complex Sites

Heather Lord

Accurate and Quantifiable Characterization of Biogenic vs. Petrogenic Hydrocarbons in Soil

Kevin French

Remediation of Petroleum Hydrocarbons, Case Studies Using the Trap and Treat Technique

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