INVESTIGATION OF TRACER-SURFACTANT-FOAM PROCESSES IN SHALLOW SUBSURFACE ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION: HISTORY-MATCHING AND PERFORMANCE PREDICTION
Abstract
In-situ subsurface remediation has been widely used as an efficient means of cleaning up non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) from contaminated soils and aquifer. The use of tracer, surfactant, and foam are often considered to keep track of the propagation of injected fluids in the medium, dissolve and mobilize contaminants trapped by capillary forces, and overcome the level of heterogeneity and improve displacement and sweep efficiencies.
This study shows an actual remediation process to reduce NAPL within a military base in South Korea, by injecting tracer and surfactant solutions together for a duration of 10 days. The site consists of 5 m by 5 m area with 3 m depth under the existing structure of fuel distribution facility. Computer simulation work is performed to match the history of produced tracer and oil concentrations from three extraction wells, by considering the nature of the heterogeneity in the site. With the characteristics of heterogeneity captured from the history match, this study further extends the scope to the use of foam remediation processes to examine how foam can reduce the mobility of injected gas phase and thus improve in-situ remediation.
