SOIL VAPOR EXTRACTION AND REMEDIATION SYSTEM INSTALLATION

Surgical Excavation^® is highly preferable for the installation of soil vent systems (SVE) and all associated shallow mechanical trenching required to place valve junctions, vapor ejection piping and manifolds, and particularly vertical vent-pipe placements. Vertical boreholes created with pneumatic eruption and concomitant vacuum-waste shuttling eliminates the “borehole sediment smear” caused by auger drilling or conventionally excavated holes. The fine sediment smear caused by dragging a steel plate (backhoe bucket or rotary auger) across a formation’s exposed profile is permanent, and exclusionary, plugging a majority of interstitial pores between soil granules………the pores which are intended to carry gases, air, and/or fluids as a primary function of the recovery mechanism.

Installing shallow sampling or monitoring wells is also highly effective using this method, eliminating the need for aerial clearance for rig towers, and affording borehole/sampling and production in places a drill rig simply cannot go. Naturally, not all circumstances are ideal for pneumatic-vacuum borehole placements, but where practical, the functional work product is of greater overall value, simply because of the superior construction method, and the simplification of spoils handling and disposition. Pneumatic-vacuum excavation is not appropriate in consolidated rock formations, or in locations with extensive horizons of large boulders or obstructive debris such as concrete and steel rubble.

Borehole sizes can be randomly increased mid-process to enhance permeability and create a higher-volume annular capacity to accelerate vapor accumulation, and positioning vertical vent-pipes for vacuum ejection. Boreholes for this purpose are essentially “fracked”, or injected with up to a 4000 psi oil-free air stream to open interstitial spaces between soil particles, which can significantly increase air and vapor mobility from the formation to the well-bore for capture and ejection. An entire network of vertical vapor-ejection casings and screens, as well as all of the associated shallow trenching to connect the network to a remote vacuum-recovery system can be installed by this method, without the need for heavy excavating equipment.

SVE Systems can now be installed immediately alongside buildings, foundations, footings, and inside buildings and basements, without the need for manual labor, or the risk of damaging structures or impact-sensitive utilities such as natural gas lines, gasoline or other petrochemical piping, water lines or electronic and fiber optic cables.

Hydraulic or trench/drain NAPL recovery systems can be installed using Surgical Excavation^® in locations previously avoided due to access limitations, or because of the dangers associated with mechanical excavation and potential damage to buried utilities. Additionally, a ten-foot deep capture trench can be installed two, three, or five feet at a time, backfilled at the end of each workday with a physical marker left at the end of each day’s trench limit, separating the backfilled portion from the native formation with a vertical structural barrier made from plate steel or other impermeable material until the extension of the trench/drain continues the next day, or after a period of performance monitoring of the completed portion. The recovery sump or well-bore can be installed in the ends, or middle of such a trench/drain at the discretion of the design developer or installation supervisor. All of the appurtenant mechanical piping can also be installed safely and quickly, and completely below the surface using this method. Conventional excavation can be used to augment the pneumatic-vacuum process in portions of the work site where excavated spoils are left near the excavated zone for return to the excavation for backfill.