Ecologia has started work on the in-situ remediation of a former filling station in Kent. The site is being re-developed and the low molecular weight hydrocarbon contaminants are a potential risk to groundwater. Ecologia are using the tried and tested pairing of air sparging with soil vapour extraction (SVE) but with our usual process enhancements including automated monitoring of the raw vapour from each well cluster, between the twin activated carbon filters and the stack. This continuous monitoring provides us with these project-shortening benefits:

• Two week prediction of GAC breakthrough i.e. enough time to organise an exchange with no downtime;

• Mass recovery calculations form a well populated data set;

• Assessment of the asymptotic curve with a well populated data set;

• Environmental protection and license compliance with monitoring of the exhaust stack every 10 minutes, far greater than the normal weekly manual monitoring normally required by licensing.

The equipment is supported by a full telemetry and telecommand system enabling us to operate and check the equipment form our offices. All of this allows us to complete the clean up in a shorter timeframe with lower and predictable costs.