Two Decades of Application of Permeable Reactive Barriers to Groundwater Remediation - Permeable Reactive Barrier: Sustainable Groundwater Remediation - page 25

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Two Decades of Application of Permeable
Reactive Barriers to Groundwater
Remediatio n
Scott D. Warner
CONTENTS
2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................. 25
2.2 General Considerations of the PRB ........................................................... 28
2.3 PRB Developments ...................................................................................... 30
2.3.1 Chemical Treatment ........................................................................ 30
2.3.2 Unintended Performance Issues .................................................... 31
2.3.3 Monitoring Improvements and Longevity .................................. 32
2.3.4 Sustainability .................................................................................... 33
2.3.5 Construction and Implementation ................................................ 34
2.3.6 Cost .................................................................................................... 34
2.4 Recent Advances .......................................................................................... 35
2.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................... 37
References ............................................................................................................... 37
2.1 Introduction
The year 2011 marked the 20th year anniversary of the first pilot testing
of the permeable reactive barrier (PRB)* as an in situ groundwater remedy
by University of Waterloo researchers at the Canadian Forces Base (CFB)
Borden site in Ontario, Canada (Gillham and O'Hannesin, 1994). Over the
ensuing 20 years, the PRB concept would evolve from its standing as an
“innovative” remedy for chemically impacted groundwater first commer-
cially applied at a former semiconductor manufacturing facility in north-
ern California, USA, to a “developed” technology that has been installed
at sites around the globe, as well as being identified as one of the most
sustainable groundwater treatment remedies available. Furthermore, over
the past two decades, this remediation concept has grown to be the subject
* Composed of zero-valent iron (ZVI).
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