Remediation of Contaminated Sites

Sources of contamination

Related course material: Reading n.1

Roberto Raga
roberto.raga@unipd.it
 Contents of THIS LECTURE

Main sources of contamination

Landfills
Industrial areas
Accidents…
Point Source and pollutants
Countryside in Austria
Material extracted from an old landfill
A modern landfill
Interactions landfill – surrounding environment

Biogas and
leachate
extraction

Biogas

Waste landfill

Leachate Vadose zone

aquifer

ENVIRONMENT
Sources of contamination
Underground Storage Tanks (USTs)
. .
Gas Foo d Bee r

Leaking
Tank
. Tank
.. .
.
. .. .... LNAPL floats on
. .. .. .
. ... .. . .. ....... Vapo r water table
. .
. .. .. . ........... . . .. .. .
.. . . . . . .
. . . .. .... ...... ..... .. . . . .
.... . ... . ...... ....
.. . .... . ... . . . ..... .. .....LNAP
.. .. .. ... .L........ . .
. ... .. . . . . . . .. .. . . ........ .... . .. . .
. . . . . . . . . ... . . . .

Soluble Plum e
Plume

Ground wate r
Sand Aquife r
Flo w
UST - Prevention
Gasworks sites
 Gasworks sites
Present in all major towns
• Dry distillation of coal at 1000°C →
– H2 (46%), CH4 (16%), Nitrogen (15%)
– CO2
– Hydrocarbons
– Organic compounds containing N, S and O
– Hydrogen sulphide
– Hydrogen cyanide
• Storage and treatment of by products
Often the sites were sold without previous characterization

Need to undertake legal proceedings

Legal request for damages
Gasworks site in Padova (aerial view, 1960)
Gasworks site in Padova today
 ….more complex cases
Process Area
Storage Areas
DRY CLEANERS Lint Trap

Residual Tank

Sewer Lines

Dissolved
Plume Clay Lens
Clay Lens
Flow

Bedrock
DNAPL Sinks to lower layer
DNAPL