Containment is the primary technology for environmental protection when the contaminated subsurface sites cannot be economically remediated. In parallel to remediation efforts, confinement technologies are needed to retard or prevent the advancement of contamination plumes into the environment. This paper aims at investigating the feasibility of an innovative approach for preventing the movement of liquid contaminants toward groundwater. The concept involves using either vertical or horizontal wells to establish a pattern of air circulation to dry a soil layer. If the water saturation in the soil layer is lowered below the minimum required water saturation for liquid flow, the soil will tend to retain rather than transmit the liquids and as a result it will act as barrier to liquid contaminants. This technology can provide many advantages including non-physical confinement, commercially available oil and gas technology and equipment, active monitoring and leak detection, and high potential for integration with other remediation technologies. This type barrier is a crosscutting technology that would greatly benefit from proof of concept to gain regulatory acceptance.

A series of experiments have been designed and conducted to evaluate the feasibility of the concept. Several issues including the influence of the soil characteristics on drying profile, sweep efficiency and barrier performance have been investigated. Sand-packs, of different but uniform grain size have been utilized to investigate the drying process in porous media. The results have provided significant information regarding drying processes and the nature of fluid infiltration in porous media has been obtained. The experimental results indicated a great potential for applicability of the concept.

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