Density-surfactant-motivated removal of DNAPL trapped in dead-end fractures

Abstract

Three kinds of experiments were conducted to test existing methods and develop an effective methodology for the remediation of DNAPL trapped in vertical dead-end fractures. A water-flushing method failed to remove TCE from vertical dead-end fractures where no fluid flow occurs. A water-flushing experiment implies that existing remediation methods, utilizing water-based remedial fluid such as surfactant-enhanced method, have difficulty in removing DNAPL trapped from the vertical downward dead-end fractures, because of no water flow through dead-end fractures, capillary, and gravity forces. Fluid denser than TCE was injected into the fracture network, but did not displace TCE from the vertical dead-end fractures. Based on the analysis of the experiments, the increase in the density of the dense fluid and the addition of surfactant to the dense fluid were suggested, and this composite dense fluid with surfactant effectively removed TCE from the vertical dead-end fractures.