Electromagnetically Induced Transport for Soil/Groundwater Remediation
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 141, Issue 3
Abstract
This paper studies the effect of electromagnetic (EM) waves—with minimal heat generation—on transport mechanisms to improve soil/groundwater cleanup. This effect was experimentally examined for the transport of a nonreactive dye in water. The setup was tested at frequencies between 50 and 200 MHz. EM waves’ electric field component was numerically simulated and then validated against an experimentally measured electric field. Dielectrophoretic forces were then computed by using the simulated electric field data. The dye flow was observed to be in the same direction as the numerically simulated, dielectrophoretic forces. Recorded temperature variations within the medium showed similar trends ( increase during EM stimulation) for all frequencies; however, only at the specific frequencies of 65 and 75 MHz was the dye flow controlled by EM waves. This observation suggests that EM waves—and not thermal effects—controlled the dye transport.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This project was supported by the National Science Foundation through the Interdisciplinary Research (IDR) program, CBET Award No. 0928703. The authors express appreciation toward Sahba Azad, who diligently helped with the experimental tasks of this project. The authors would also like to thank the Instrumentation Office of the College of Engineering at Boise State University for the fabrication and machining support of the experimental setup.
References
Azad, M., Sangrey, H. D. O., Farid, A., Browning, J., and Barney-Smith, E. (2013). “Electromagnetic stimulation of two-phase transport in water-saturated media for geoenvironmental applications.” Geotech. Test. J., 36(1), 97–106.
Balanis, C. A. (1989). Advanced engineering electromagnetics, 1st Ed., Wiley, New York.
Benner, M. L., Mohtar, R. H., and Lee, L. S. (2002). “Factors affecting air sparging remediation systems using field data and numerical simulations.” J. Hazard. Mater., B95(3), 305–329.
Bennett, T. (2012). Transport by advection and diffusion, Wiley, New York.
Braida, W., and Ong, S. K. (2001). “Air sparging effectiveness: Laboratory characterization of air-channel mass-transfer zone for VOC volatilization.” J. Hazard. Mater., B87(1–3), 241–258.
Brown, R. G., Sharpe, R. A., Hughes, W. L., and Post, R. E. (1973). Lines, waves, and antennas: The transmission of electric energy, 2nd Ed., Wiley, New York.
Chao, K. P., Ong, S. K., and Protopapas, A. (1998). “Water-to-air mass transfer of VOCs: Laboratory-scale, air sparging system.” J. Environ. Eng., 1054–1060.
COMSOL Multiphysics 4.3a [Computer software]. Stockholm, Sweden, COMSOL.
Cussler, E. L. (1997). Diffusion, mass transfer in fluid systems, 2nd Ed., Cambridge University, U.K.
Hilhorst, M. A. (1997). “Dielectric characterization of soil.” Doctoral dissertation, Wageningen Agricultural Univ., Wageningen, Netherlands.
Johnson, R. L., Johnson, P. C., McWhorter, D. B., Hinchee, R. E., and Goodman, I. (1998). “An overview of in-situ air sparging.” J. Ground Water Monit. Rem., 13(4), 127–135.
Jones, T. B. (2003). “Basic theory of dielectrophoresis and electrorotation.” J. IEEE Eng. Med. Biol., 22(6), 33–42.
MATLAB, 2013a [Computer software]. Natick, MA, MathWorks.
Najafi, A., Azad, S., Farid, A., Browning, J., and Barney-Smith, E. (2014). “Study of mechanisms governing electromagnetic alteration of hydraulic conductivity of soils.” Proc., Geo-Congress 2014, ASCE, Reston, VA.
Suthersan, S. S. (1999). In-situ air sparging, remediation engineering, design concepts, CRC, Boca Raton, FL.
Vermeulen, F., and McGee, B. (2000). “In-situ electromagnetic heating for hydrocarbon recovery and environmental remediation.” J. Can. Pet. Technol., 39(8), 25–29.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 141 • Issue 3 • March 2015
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 25, 2013
Accepted: Oct 15, 2014
Published online: Dec 4, 2014
Published in print: Mar 1, 2015
Discussion open until: May 4, 2015
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.