ABSTRACT
Thermally enhanced remediation using steam injection/extraction has proven to be a very effective, quick and cost efficient technology for site clean-up on several Sites in the US and Europe. The major design parameters for steam injection/extraction systems are injection rates and pressure, injection well design and spacing, and time required for target zone heat-up and the resulting temperature distribution in over- and underburden. In addition, the heat losses to surrounding areas are important for sizing the steam injection equipment. Finally, effluent treatment systems need to be designed carefully to deal with contaminated liquids and vapors, as steam injection is combined with aggressive dual-phase extraction. Combining the Marx Langenheim solution for steam injection and a mass balance expression, a spreadsheet has been developed to yield estimates of these parameters based on the geological and hydrogeological characteristics of the actual site. Key input parameters include depth to the contaminant, hydraulic or intrinsic permeability, steam injection pressure, and thermal diffusivity of surrounding sediments.
