In well Aerator

Introduction

The patented Multi-Stage In-Well Aerator (Aerator) is a new simple and low cost system for in-well air stripping of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from ground water. It costs 50% to 75% less than conventional stacked tray and packed tower air strippers, and offers several significant advantages over other current innovative in-well groundwater cleanup systems.

Unlike other current innovative in-well cleanup technologies the Aerator achieves full air stripping removal of VOCs in one pass through the well, is not restricted to any particular hydrogeologic setting (i.e permeable soils for recirculation or etc), and does not require special well construction. This one pass cleanup feature allows virtually any in-situ reinjection or ex-situ discharge option, and because localized (within well capture zone) recirculation is not required to achieve full removal of VOCs true hydraulic capture of a contaminant plume can be easily achieved and verified without expensive modeling or subsurface instrumentation. The one pass cleanup feature also eliminates the risk of contaminating virgin soil or groundwater strata when using leaching and reinjection discharge options.

The Aerator was developed at the University of California, Davis for the West Campus Ground Water Cleanup Project and has been in continuous commercial full scale 24 hour per day operation at this site since October 1995 with an availability greater than 99%. This four well treatment system operates at 160 gpm and has treated over 100 million gallons of ground water thus far and shown a measurable reduction in the contaminant plume.

The following report provides details of Aerator construction and operation, it's performance at the UC Davis site, it's potential for other cleanup sites, it's advantages over other current technologies, and it's low cost.

The Multi-Stage In-Well Aerator
is now available for commercial use, and it can be pilot tested for less than $10,000 if a well of at least 6" diameter is available.