Brief

At a manufacturing plant in Toronto’s Islington district, chlorinated ethene groundwater impacts, in the form of TCE, DCE and vinyl chloride, were discovered through environmental testing performed in preparation for selling the property. The contamination, originating from manufacturing processes, was potentially flowing down-gradient onto the adjacent property at a groundwater flow velocity of approximately 8 metres per year. The site owner required an expedient remediation solution in order to minimize environmental damage and complete the property sale. The building itself, as well as an electrical transformer compound, restricted site access, making traditional installation methods impractical and remediation challenging.

Process

To treat the chlorinated ethene (TCE, DCE and vinyl chloride) groundwater impacts flowing from the source on site, IRSL designed and installed a 100m long Permeable Reactive Barrier (PRB) using Injection Wells and Direct Push Technology (DPT) to administer a Zero-Valent Iron and Emulsified Oil mixture.

To develop an optimal Permeable Reactive Barrier design, IRSL used their proprietary analytical model, which incorporated observed contaminant concentrations, groundwater flow rates, reaction rates, temperature and inorganic parameters, within the shale, soil and groundwater. Through this process, they discovered variations in gradient and flow direction, which had been previously overlooked, and significantly impacted the design.

Based on their analysis, IRSL created and implemented the design. They successfully constructed a Permeable Reactive Barrier, using both injection wells and direct push technology, in two weeks without impacting the operating facility.

Results

The chlorinated ethene plume was treated to below the applicable regulatory standards.

The Permeable Reactive Barrier incurred no operations & maintenance costs.

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