Technical Bin

I'm not a professor or a research scientist. 99% of what I do isn't published in peer reviewed journals. But, I work with really smart people on interesting problems, and we generate stuff for the folks like us to look at or listen to. This "gray literature" should be more available. Here's some hints at stuff - reach out to me for requests of actual doc.

Indicator Plant Geobotany: A precursor to successful phytoremediation

This is a neat bench study performed by one of my friends. I maybe funded it or something. We were thinking about using plants to remediate arsenic at a railroad site I managed. My brilliant friend Barry said, "Let's look at horsetails!"

Results of Pneumatic Fracturing to Aid Persulfate Distribution in Clay Soils

This fun little project used pneumatic fracturing to emplace sand granules into clay, creating pathways for injection of chemical reagents used to treat gasoline-related contaminants. I did this project in a town called Sparr, located just a wee bit north of Ocala, Florida. Poster presented in 2012.

Sustainable Remediation Panel (2018)

At the 34th Annual Conference on Soils, Sediments, Water & Energy, participated as a panelist on the Sustainable Remediation Panel, and told the development story of the Norfolk Southern sustainable remediation program I championed. We delved into the structure of the program, what our initial goals were, and how we scaled the program to meet our perceived needs at the time of program creation.

Treatability Evaluation for Chlorinated Propanes and Ethanes in Groundwater Under Reductive Dechlorination Treatments

The 30th Annual Conference on Soils, Sediments, Water & Energy. This presentation concerned remediation of chlorinated compounds: chloropropanes, chloroethanes and organochlorine pesticides. Abiotic means of destruction of organochlorine pesticides was demonstrated using organic carbon and mZVI. But, abiotic paths are not effective for chlorinated propane's 1,2-dichloropropane and 1,2,3-trichloropropane. Chloropropane biodegradation pathways mediated by bacteria are known to exist but poorly studied. This study looked at anaerobic biodegradation paths, and illustrated both the need for carbon supply for cometabolic degradation and clearly demonstrated required presence of specific microbes (KB-1 Plus) for degradation of chlorinated propanes and ethanes.

ISCO of VOCs and BTEX Plume in Low Permeability Soils

A 2012 case study on the use of in-situ chemical oxidation remediation efforts at an active equipment storage/maintenance facility in New Jersey, USA. The talk reviewed initial conceptual site model, and the evolution of the model as new data was collected using high-resolution characterization tools, and how that affected our remedial approach. A bench study evaluating catalyzed hydrogen peroxide dose regime was conducted. Recognizing technical challenges with selected peroxide approach and resultant shift to activated persulfate field results are discussed. Finally, discussion of the role ISCO might play in shortening life cycle costs via system perturbation is provided.

Novel Mapping of LNAPL Preferential Pathways at a Rail Yard Using Sequence Stratigraphy Analysis

Poster presented in Miami (2017) at the 4th International Symposium on Bioremediation and Sustainable Environmental Technologies. An interesting former industrial lagoons area on the right bank (looking downstream) of the Susquehanna River in Enola, Pennsylvania. We used sequence stratigraphy to describe likely origin and flow paths for oily seeps that were occurring on the river bank. Subsequent trenching investigation confirmed the model.

DUPONT_SUZIE_BATTELLE REMEDIATION_MIAMI_2017_92x44.pdf

Guide to Performing Remediation, Applying Remediation Geology: Two Case Studies

A fun tale moving along scale, and how zooming out can be useful before we zoom in for understanding the broader story of how the site is "constructed" and what that might imply about the way contaminants moved into the subsurface, and how that might hint at effective means of remediation. A manufactured gas plant site and and the Enola, Pennsylvania lagoons site are used as case study examples.

Distributed Temperature Sensing Technologies

This cool presentation was put together by a friend and associate who was responsible for the design and installation of fiber optic temperature sending array into a streambed beneath a railroad yard in Canton, Ohio. They weren't able to present, so I presented, which was great as I had managed the site as the "owner". Fascinating use of thermal differentials to differentiate the location of groundwater seeps into surface water - which are pathways for oil seepage into the surface water body.

Sustainable Remediation Program: Tiers, Tools, & Tests

A 2015 summary of the state of the establishment of the Norfolk Southern sustainable remediation program. The presenter, Ms. McNally, was integral to the development of the program. It was at a meeting at some conference or another that she and I sat in a coffee shop, and outlined on napkins what the sustainable remediation program would look like for the railroad.

RREC Poster NS Rev3 FINAL.pdf

Novel Use of Metadata Derived from UV Fluorescence Soil Core Imagery

Image files generated using smartphones and digital cameras have loads of data within them. My colleague Mr. Harding struck upon the idea to examine the metadata for patterns that can be analyzed and used to guide discreet soil sampling location choices. He experimented with two methods, one a labor intensive image by image process of manually tabulating the luminosity, hue, and RGB values from image metadata. The other approach used software, originally developed to dental diagnostics, but adapted to convert gray-scale (total RGB) values from images of varved sediment deposits into plots used to define varve layers. Mr. Harding's conversion of gray scale value into plots that correlated with intensity of luminosity were indicative of patterns of LNAPL deposition throughout a soil core.

Treatment Testing for the Herbicide Dicamba

In 2021, a train hit a flatbed trailer loaded with totes of herbicide used on soybean or cotton crops in the south. The two primary compounds, dicamba and acetochlor, were spilled when the totes flew off the flatbed trailer and were burst open on the ground adjacent to the railroad track. We did a bench study to examine some remedial treatment options and saw some interesting responses for the rather stout starting concentrations.

Pushing for Failure

As a presenter participant on an LNAPL workshop held virtually for the 37th International Conference in Soils, Sediments, Water, and Energy in 2021, I gave a light-hearted and light on substance presentation on the pressures and pitfalls of "premature remediation". Discussion used recent examples of communication from stakeholders concerning remedial action planning in situations where the conceptual site model clearly lacked completeness or the level of sophistication that would allow for good decision making moving into remediation.

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