Thermally Enhanced Extraction Steam Injection

Thermally enhanced extraction is another experimental approach for DNAPL source removal. Commonly know as steam injection, this technique for the recovery of fluids from porous media is not new in that it has been used for enhanced oil recovery in the petroleum industry for decades, but its use in aquifer restoration goes back to the early 1980s. Steam injection heats the solid-phase porous media and causes displacement of the pore water below the water table. As a result of pore water displacement, DNAPL and aqueous-phase chlorinated solvent compounds are dissolved and volatilized. The heat front developed during steam injection is controlled by temperature gradients and heat capacity of the porous media. Pressure gradients and permeability play a less important role. 

DNAPL recovery is accomplished essentially in two concurrent phases (1) viscosity reduction of the NAPL with the extraction of water and DNAPL via 

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Conventional pump-and-treat techniques are not very effective in restoring aquifers impacted by DNAPLs. This ineffectiveness is a result of the relatively low solubility of the DNAPL and the large capillary forces that immobilize the nonaqueous phase. Over the past decade, several innovative and experimental strategies have been tested for more effective recovery of DNAPLs. These strategies include the more conventional use of surfactants, and thermally enhanced extraction or steam injection. Other more experimental approaches include cosolvent flooding and density manipulations. Each of these approaches is discussed below. 

The steam-enhanced recovery process (SERF) is an in situ technology designed to remove and treat volatile and semivolatile organic compounds (VOCs and SVOCs) in contaminated soils by using steam injection and vacuum extraction. The technology is based on the idea that added heat (thermal enhancement) increases the volatility and mobility of SVOCs and VOCs and thus facilitates the extraction of soil contaminants. The process works by injecting high-quality steam... 

Secondary recovery, infill drilling, various pumping techniques, and workover actions may still leave oil, sometimes the majority of the oil, in the reservoir. There are further applications of technology to extract the oil that can be utilized if the economics justifies them. These more elaborate procedures are called enhanced oil recovery. They fall into three general categories thermal recoveiy, chemical processes, and miscible methods. All involve injections of some substance into the reservoir. Thermal recovery methods inject steam or hot water m order to improve the mobility of the oil. They work best for heavy nils. In one version the production crew maintains steam or hot water injection continuously in order to displace the oil toward the production wells. In another version, called steam soak or huff and puff, the crew injects steam for a time into a production well and then lets it soak while the heat from the steam transfers to the resei voir. After a period of a week or more, the crew reopens the well and produces the heated oil. This sequence can be repeated as long as it is effective. 

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