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LONG-TERM PERFORMANCE OF PERMEABLE REACTIVE BARRIERS: LESSONS LEARNED, FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Citation:
Puls*, R W. LONG-TERM PERFORMANCE OF PERMEABLE REACTIVE BARRIERS: LESSONS LEARNED, FUTURE DIRECTIONS. Presented at Int'l. Symp. of PRBs, Belfast, Northern Ireland, IRELAND, March 14 - 16, 2004.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
Recently, a synthesis of research findings by EPA has been prepared and presented in an EPA report titled Capstone Report on the Application, Monitoring, and Performance of Permeable Reactive Barriers for Ground-Water Remediation (EPA/600/R-03/045 a,b). Another report has also been recently released under the auspices of the U.S. Federal Remediation Technologies Roundtable entitled Evaluation of Permeable Reactive Barrier Performance (EPA/542/R-04/004). The latter is the product of a collaborative effort among federal agencies involved in hazardous waste site cleanup. Three United States (U.S.) government agencies, the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Energy (DOE), and the EPA, as well as the Interstate Technologies and Regulatory Council (ITRC) contributed to this report. It is a summary of the conclusions and recommendations of the three agencies' individual studies at eight different sites. This presentation will summarize research efforts at the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD) on the application, monitoring, and performance of Permeable Reactive Barriers (PRBs) for groundwater restoration. Over the past 10 years, research projects conducted by research staff at EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory and others have focused on field and laboratory evaluations of the geochemical, hydrogeological, and microbiological factors that govern the performance and functioning of PRBs. Understanding these factors is necessary in order to predict the longevity of PRB systems, conduct economic analyses, and to optimize the implementation of this groundwater cleanup technology for a wide variety of hazardous compounds. The approach taken in studies to date has focused on developing and testing site characterization tools for monitoring and evaluating contaminant removal mechanisms and hydraulic performance of PRBs, in addition to lab- and field-based studies to document the important physical, chemical, and biological processes in PRB systems. In addition to conclusions and recommendations, the presentation will pose questions and challenges for further research, development and application of this important remedial technology.