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STAR

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Carbon Injection To Support In-Situ Smouldering Remediation, Gillian Wilton Apr 2022

Carbon Injection To Support In-Situ Smouldering Remediation, Gillian Wilton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of anthropogenic contaminants that are growing increasing concern due to their associated negative health affects. The properties of PFAS result in their persistence and stability which present challenges for remediation. Activated carbon is currently the most widely used method for PFAS treatment since carbon microparticle injection can be used for in-situ treatment; however, this method does not result in PFAS destruction. Thermal treatment is a promising post-treatment method that can be used with activated carbon as long as sufficient PFAS-destroying temperatures are achieved (> 900°C). A promising in-situ thermal treatment technology is …


Hydrogen-Rich Syngas Derived From Smouldering Biomass And Hydrocarbon Wastes, Joshua K. Brown Apr 2022

Hydrogen-Rich Syngas Derived From Smouldering Biomass And Hydrocarbon Wastes, Joshua K. Brown

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In the face of climate change, the world is looking to new fuel sources to meet the surging global energy demand. Hydrogen has been proposed as a promising energy vector being both a net-zero carbon emitter and having one of the highest gravimetric energy densities of known fuels. Production of hydrogen, however, is difficult with many of the technologies which exist today failing to be economically feasible or environmentally sustainable. Smouldering has recently been developed as a cost effective and energy efficient technology for destruction of organic wastes. The unique reaction zones created within a smouldering system have the potential …


Smouldering Combustion Treatment Of Soils And Granular Activated Carbon Contaminated With Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, Alexandra L. Duchesne Mar 2020

Smouldering Combustion Treatment Of Soils And Granular Activated Carbon Contaminated With Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, Alexandra L. Duchesne

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are emerging contaminants, ubiquitous in the environment, and are challenging to remediate. Self-sustaining Treatment for Active Remediation (STAR) destroys organic contaminants embedded in porous media using smouldering combustion. Self-sustaining smouldering conditions allow the reaction to propagate through the contaminated media without external energy. This study explored STAR as a remediation option for PFAS-impacted granular activated carbon (GAC) and PFAS-contaminated soil. Three smouldering mixtures were used (i) PFAS-spiked GAC and sand, (ii) PFAS-spiked soil and GAC, (iii) PFAS-contaminated field site soil and GAC. Smouldering temperatures were greater than 900˚C, destroying the GAC. Post-treatment PFAS concentrations of …


Fundamentals Of Applied Smouldering Combustion, Marco Zanoni Jun 2018

Fundamentals Of Applied Smouldering Combustion, Marco Zanoni

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Smouldering combustion is defined as a flameless oxidation reaction occurring on the surface of the condensed phase (i.e., solid or liquid). Traditional research on smouldering was related to economic damages, fire risk, and death, due to the release of toxic gases and slow propagation rates. Recently, smouldering has been applied as an intentional, engineering technology (e.g., waste and contaminant destruction). Smouldering involves the transport of heat, mass, and momentum in the solid and fluid phases along with different chemical reactions. Therefore, numerical models are essential for the fundamental understanding of the process. Smouldering models either neglected heat transfer between phases …


Time-Lapse Electrical Resistivity Tomography For Mapping In Situ Smouldering Remediation (Star), Lais Muchatte Trento Sep 2017

Time-Lapse Electrical Resistivity Tomography For Mapping In Situ Smouldering Remediation (Star), Lais Muchatte Trento

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Time-lapse Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT), a surface geophysical technique, was applied for the first time to monitor the first full-scale application of Self-sustaining Treatment for Active Remediation (STAR) at a coal tar contaminated site. STAR is a self-sustaining smouldering technology that destroys contaminants in situ by combustion, generating heat, water, and combustion gases. ERT is used as a complementary source of information to support conventional temperature and gas concentration data collected during STAR operations. A shallow (2.4 mbgs) and a deep (7.8 mbgs) treatment cell were monitored, with 2D surface resistivity surveys conducted before, during and after treatment. Two 36 …


Microbial Repopulation Following In Situ Star Remediation, Gavin Overbeeke Feb 2017

Microbial Repopulation Following In Situ Star Remediation, Gavin Overbeeke

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In situ STAR (Self-sustaining Treatment for Active Remediation) is an emerging remediation technology which uses smouldering combustion to destroy nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) contamination in the subsurface. Since STAR smouldering travels through contaminated soils slowly (~0.5 to 5 m/day) and subjects them to high temperatures (400–1000°C), it is expected that this technology will thoroughly dry and sterilize the zones which it treats. Further, soils surrounding the treatment zone which are not smouldered will be heated, although not smouldered, by virtue of their proximity to STAR, impacting microbial communities within them. Therefore, the objectives of this work are to quantify the …


Smouldering Remediation: Transient Effects Of Front Propagation, Laura L. Kinsman Dec 2015

Smouldering Remediation: Transient Effects Of Front Propagation, Laura L. Kinsman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Remediation of sites contaminated with non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) presents a significant challenge, particularly for complex and high molecular weight compounds such as coal tar and creosote. Self-sustaining Treatment for Active Remediation (STAR) is an innovative remediation technology based on the principles of smouldering combustion, which has shown potential for rapid destruction of source zone contaminants. The success of smouldering remediation has been previously demonstrated both at the laboratory and field scale, however, these studies have focused primarily on the overall degree of remediation. Laboratory column experiments were employed to identify key transient processes that have the potential to influence …


Self-Sustaining Smouldering Combustion As A Novel Disposal Destruction Method For Waste Water Biosolids, Tarek L. Rashwan Aug 2015

Self-Sustaining Smouldering Combustion As A Novel Disposal Destruction Method For Waste Water Biosolids, Tarek L. Rashwan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Managing biosolids, the major by-product from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), persists as a major global challenge that often constitutes the majority of WWTP operating costs. Self-sustained smouldering is a new approach for organic waste treatment, in which the waste (i.e., the fuel) is destroyed in an energy efficient manner after mixing it with sand. Smouldering has never been applied to biosolids. Column experiments, using biosolids obtained from a WWTP, were employed to identify if - and under what conditions - smouldering could be used for treating biosolids. The parameter space in which smouldering was self-sustaining was mapped as a function …


A Self-Potential For Monitoring Self-Sustaining Treatment For Active Remediation (Star), Mehrnoosh Ebrahimzadeh Jan 2015

A Self-Potential For Monitoring Self-Sustaining Treatment For Active Remediation (Star), Mehrnoosh Ebrahimzadeh

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Self-sustaining Treatment for Active Remediation (STAR) is a novel soil remediation approach for Non-Aqueous Phase liquids (NAPLs) embedded in a porous medium. STAR is based on liquid smoldering combustion which destroys NAPLs while simultaneously generating heat due to the exothermic oxidation reaction. The technique is currently in use in several field pilot tests and a full-scale site remediation. Propagation of the smoldering front is monitored in the field by temperature data obtained from a thermocouple network, with limited resolution. Geophysical techniques, such as Self-Potential (SP), have potential as a non-destructive means for monitoring remediation processes. The SP method measures natural …


Ignition Method Development And First Field Demonstration Of In Situ Smouldering Remediation, Grant C. Scholes Sep 2013

Ignition Method Development And First Field Demonstration Of In Situ Smouldering Remediation, Grant C. Scholes

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Self-sustaining Treatment for Active Remediation (STAR), a smouldering combustion-based technology for remediating sites contaminated by industrial liquids, has been extensively studied in the laboratory. The technology had not been demonstrated at a real site. Moreover, the ignition method (based on heat conduction) for the process used in the laboratory was not appropriate for field deployment and an alternative was required. This work first presents the development of a new ignition method for smouldering combustion. This ignition technique (based on heat convection) was proven effective via laboratory tests, and then applied and improved through two field tests. These field tests, conducted …


Smouldering Combustion For Soil Remediation: Two-Dimensional Experiments And Modelling, Tanzeer Hasan Feb 2013

Smouldering Combustion For Soil Remediation: Two-Dimensional Experiments And Modelling, Tanzeer Hasan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Sustaining Treatment for Active Remediation (STAR) is a novel technology for the remediation of soils contaminated with Non-Aqueous Phase liquids (NAPLs). STAR is based upon the concept of liquid smouldering, in which NAPLs embedded in a porous medium are progressively destroyed via an exothermic oxidation reaction which propagates in a self-sustaining manner through the contaminated material. The In Situ Smouldering Model (ISSM), developed to simulate the propagation of STAR as a function of NAPL content and local air velocity, was calibrated for a suite of one-dimensional experiments (MacPhee et al., 2010). However, STAR application at field sites involves propagation of …