The Six Technologies We Use

uses six recirculating well technologies:

• Density-Driven Convection, a patented in-well stripping technology developed by others and licensed by .

  This technology uses stripping within the well to remove volatile and many semi-volatile contaminants from the groundwater as it passes through the well.  It was developed by Wasatch Environmental, Inc. and patented under US Patent 5,426,598.  We have used this technology since 1997, refining and further developing the patented concept.  It is an excellent technology for removing dissolved volatile and many semi-volatile contaminants from groundwater.

• In-Situ Groundwater Remediation, a patented technology (US Patent 6,921,477) developed by .
  This technology uses an adsorptive or reactive medium to remove dissolved contaminants from the ground water within the well.  We developed this technology to expand the range of contaminants we can address using recirculating wells beyond the volatile and semi-volatile contaminants that can be stripped from groundwater.  With this technology, we can remove volatile, semi-volatile, and many non-volatile contaminants, including ionic species such as chromium and arsenic.

• Floating Product Removal, a patent-applied-for technology developed by .
  This technology uses an In-Situ Groundwater Remediation type well to both treat the groundwater for dissolved constituents of the floating product and to create a depression (drawdown) around the well that induces floating contaminants to flow toward the well for removal by a skimmer pump or other means.  Greatly increased removal rates for floating contaminants can be achieved without extracting groundwater from the aquifer.

• Blower-Less Air Sparging, a patent-applied-for technology developed by
  In this recirculating well technology, air (or other sparging fluid) is forced out of the well into the aquifer, as with traditional air sparging.  The difference is the means of compressing the air and delivering it to a point below groundwater where it can be forced out of the well.  The technology uses no blower, compressor, or air pump of any kind; it uses no aboveground equipment other than a control panel.  Power consumption is a small fraction of the power consumption of traditional air sparging.  Taking advantage of the large radius of influence of a recirculating well, the sparging air is carried much farther from the well than in traditional air sparging, greatly increasing well spacing over traditional air sparing.

• Blower-Less In-Well Stripping, a patent-applied-for technology developed by
  This technology operates very similarly to blower-less air sparging, except that the air (or other sparging fluid) drawn into the well is returned to the surface after it strips contaminants from the water and saturates the water with oxygen, instead of being forced out into the aquifer.  The sparging fluid, bearing the stripped contaminants, can be released to the atmosphere, or treated at the surface if required.  The technology uses no blower, compressor, or air pump of any kind.  Unless the off-gas requires treatment, it uses no aboveground equipment, other than a control panel.  Power consumption is a small fraction of the power consumption of traditional in-well stripping. 

• Dissolved Oxygen Enhancement, a patent-applied-for technology developed by
  This technology is almost identical to blower-less in-well stripping, except for the amount of air (or other aerating fluid) used.  If the only objective is raising the dissolved oxygen level of the water, possibly to full saturation or even greater, with no need to strip contaminants out of the water, very little air is required.  An air to water ratio of 1:25 will provide enough oxygen for saturation to 10.5 mg/L.  Excess air is used to increase the efficiency of the aeration process, the excess being returned to the surface.

These technologies differ in the method of removing contaminants from the groundwater as it passes through the recirculating well. All of the advantages of recirculating wells listed elsewhere on this web site apply to each of these three technologies.

With these technologies, we can remediate a wide variety of contaminants.