Bio-Slurping
When one slurps, they eat or drink noisily, making a loud sucking noise.
We use the slurping action to pullout light petroleum products (such as gasoline) that float on groundwater.
Acknowledgement: http://www.terryenvironmental.com/remediation.html
It’s called “Bioslurping” because the air that is being pulled in through the soil matrix enriches the pores with oxygen, thus enhancing the growth and metabolism of aerobic bacteria. The bacteria consume the petroleum contaminant for food.
Bioslurping is also known as Vacuum Enhanced Recovery.
We position a tube in a well so the end of the tube is near the water-table.
The negative pressure established in the well depends on the air withdrawal rate of the pump and the permeability of the surrounding formation.
The reference to biological processes in the term "bioslurping" results from the possibility that aerobic biological degradation of the hydrocarbons will be enhanced as a result of the introduction of air into the unsaturated zone. Slurping is used as the term to describe the air entrainment and aerodynamic dragging action that lifts fluids up the slurping tube. Together forming the term Bioslurping.
A significant feature of this process is the induced airflow, which in turn induces flow of the floating contaminant toward the well. The resulting driving force can be significantly greater than the driving force that can be induced by pumping with no airflow.
Acknowledgement: http://www.remtech1.com/bioslurping.htm |
