Steam enhanced extraction method

Kent Udell, Ph.D., is currently a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Sustainability Research Center at the University of Utah. He is also Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley.  During his time at Berkeley, Udell received UC Berkeley Suoerfund Research Program funding to develop strategies for cleanup of solvents through the use of SEE from 1995 to 2000 (NIEHS 2000).

Udell originally developed a technology that enhances remediation by injecting steam into the subsurface and extracting volatile organic compounds. Steam injection, also known as steam-enhanced extraction (SEE) enhances recovery of contaminants by volatilization, evaporation, and steam distillation of semivolatile and volatile agents (Stewart and Udell 1988).  During this time, he refined and tested the steam injection method to speed up remediation of TCE, coal tars, creosote, and other contaminants in groundwater .

His first full application of the SEE method was at the Southern California Edison site in Visalia, California. An innovative pilot-scale SEE system, consisting of 14 injection wells, was installed to enhance removal of contaminants in soil and groundwater (U.S. EPA 2016a). This application, which operated between May 1997 and June 2000 (U.S. EPA 2009), resulted in the successful removal of 1.3 million pounds of TCE from the groundwater (TerraTherm 2017). The site was deleted from the National Priorities list on August 27, 2009 (U.S. EPA 2016a).

The SEE system increased the rate of contaminant recovery more than 1,000-fold compared to the continuous pump-and-treat method, shortening the cleanup time from the projected total time of thousands of years to four years (Eaker 2017; U.S. EPA 2016a).

Using SEE, the site was fully cleaned up at a cost of almost $30 million (U.S. EPA 2009). Edison International, the responsible party, recorded that the minimum liability to fully remediate the site was approximately $80 million in March 1997 (Edison International 1997), resulting in an estimated $50 million in savings over the course of the site.

The technology has been successfully applied in at least 18 other sites in the U.S. and overseas (TerraTherm 2017), including Williams Air Force Base, where it removed more than 2.5 million pounds of contaminants (U.S. EPA 2016b). TerraTherm, Inc., continues to successfully apply this technology for soil and groundwater remediation (TerraTherm 2015).

The manager of the Visalia, CA, site referred to Udell as the “father of steam injection” (Eaker 2017).  Udell’s research application also has been referred to as the “gold standard” for highly VOC-contaminated groundwater remediation by senior EPA staff (Cummings 2016). He also received the EPA Outstanding Remediation Technology Award in 1999 (U.S. EPA 2003).

References

Cummings J. 2016. Personal communication (MDB Inc., ed).

Eaker C. 2017. Personal communication.  (MDB Inc., ed).

Edison International. 1997. Securities and exchange commission quartery report for the period ending march 31, 1997 Available: http://services.corporate-ir.net/SEC/Document.Service?id=P3VybD1hSFIwY0RvdkwyRndhUzUwWlc1cmQybDZZWEprTG1OdmJTOWtiM2R1Ykc5aFpDNXdhSEEvWVdOMGFXOXVQVkJFUmlacGNHRm5aVDB6TXpFd09ETW1jM1ZpYzJsa1BUVTMmdHlwZT0yJmZuPTMzMTA4My5wZGY= [accessed April 13, 2017 2017].

NIEHS. 2000. University of california-berkeley superfund research program: Thermally enhanced soil and groundwater remediation. Available: https://tools.niehs.nih.gov/srp/programs/Program_detail.cfm?Project_ID=P42ES0047050019&FY=1999.

Stewart LD, Udell KS. 1988. Mechanism of residual oil displacement by steam injection. SPE Res Eng 3:1233-1242.

TerraTherm. 2015. In site themal remediation: Steam enhanced extraction. Available: http://www.terratherm.com/thermal/ser/index.htm [accessed June 28, 2017 2017].

TerraTherm. 2017. Terratherm and staff experience with steam injection and steam enhanced extraction. PDF obtained from TerraTherm.

U.S. EPA. 2003. The DNAPL remediation challenge: Is there a case for source depletion? Available: https://semspub.epa.gov/work/HQ/134435.pdf [accessed June 28, 2017 2017].

U.S. EPA. 2009. Final close-out report: Southern california edison visalia pole yard superfund site. Available: https://yosemite.epa.gov/R9/SFUND/R9SFDOCW.NSF/3dc283e6c5d6056f88257426007417a2/eb0b38dea58d1d03882575fd005f2271/$FILE/36359648.pdf/Southern%20California%20Edison_FCOR.pdf [accessed June 28, 2017 2017].

U.S. EPA. 2016a. Southern california edison co. (visalia poleyard). Available: https://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/sfund/r9sfdocw.nsf/vwsoalphabetic/Southern+California+Edison+Co.+(Visalia+Poleyard)?OpenDocument [accessed June 28, 2017 2017].

U.S. EPA. 2016b. Williams air force base. Available: https://yosemite.epa.gov/r9/sfund/r9sfdocw.nsf/viewbyepaid/az7570028582 [accessed June 28, 2017 2017].

Udell KS. 1996. Heat and mass transfer in clean-up of underground toxic wastes. In: Annual reviews of heat transfer, Vol. 7,  (Tien C-L, ed). New York, USA:Begell House, Inc., 333-405.

Udell KS. 1998a. Removal of volatile organic contaminants from soils and groundwater. Cent Eur J Public Health 6:148-151.

Udell KS. 1998b. Application of in situ thermal remediation technologies for DNAPL removal. In: Groundwater quality: Remediation and protection,  (Herbert M, Kovar K, eds). Oxfordshire, UK:International Association of Hydrological Sciences.

Udell KS, Heron G, McDonald M, Mabey W. 2000. Steam enhanced extraction demonstration at site 5, Alameda Point. Field feasibility demonstration for the us Navy, DO-9. Final report. Berkeley, California: Berkeley Environmental Restoration Center, University of California at Berkeley.