Green Remediation Focus
Havertown PCP Site
Cleanup Objectives: Remediate shallow ground water containing metals, chlorinated volatile organic compounds (VOCs), benzene, and dioxins/furans
Green Remediation Strategy: Conducted remediation system evaluation (RSE) of an operating P&T system spanning a 12-acre treatment area and employing:
- Four recovery wells with one collection trench
- An ex situ pre-treatment system to break oil-water emulsion, remove metals, and remove suspended solids in extracted ground water
- A primary treatment system employing three 30-kW ultraviolet/oxidation (UV/Ox) lamps, a peroxide destruction unit, and two granular activated carbon units to collectively destroy or remove organic contaminants
Results:
- Took two UV/Ox lamps offline, based on RSE results indicating that contaminant parameters had changed since the time of P&T startup
- Reduced electricity consumption by at least 168,000 kWh per year, due to turning off the two UV/Ox lamps
- Reduced related air emissions by approximately 105 tons of CO2, 280 pounds of nitrogen oxides, and 1,500 pounds of sulfur oxides each year, based on eGRID (version 1.1 for Pennsylvania)
- Reduced the smaller but additional offsite footprints attributable to avoided cooling water and fuel-harvesting resources needed for electricity generation and the intermediate power loss on the electric transmission grid
- Reduced annual operating costs by $32,000, primarily due to lower electricity consumption
- Gained a potential life cycle cost savings estimated at $515,000-$960,000, based on 30 years of ground-water treatment operations
- Continues to meet cleanup criteria for ground water
Property End Use: Undetermined
Point of Contact: Jill Lowe, U.S. EPA Region 3
Update: December 2009
