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Surfactant Foam Selection for Enhanced Light Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids (LNAPL) Recovery in Contaminated Aquifers

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Abstract

Foam is promising for the remediation of non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPL) source zones; however, the production of foam and its behavior in porous media are poorly understood. A methodology for the selection of surfactants suitable for foam production applied to NAPL remediation was developed. Two criteria were initially used for surfactant selection: foamability as evaluated by the Ross–Miles test and interfacial tension reduction measured with the pendant drop method. Three promising surfactants were identified and used in sand column tests: Genapol LRO because it produced the highest foam height in the Ross–Miles test, Ammonyx Lo which exhibited the lowest interfacial tension with p-xylene and had the second highest foam height, and Tomadol 900 because it showed intermediate results in both tests. Viscosity was found to be proportional to foamability. Genapol LRO produced a foam so viscous that it destabilized by the end of the experiment. Ammonyx Lo produced a less viscous foam but with a stable front. Tomadol 900 produced an unstable foam with poor viscosity. Results from column tests gave indications of optimal conditions needed to produce a stable and viscous foam front.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for this study was provided by a NSERC-CRD Grant (412730-11) in partnership with TechnoRem and a NSERC Discovery Grant (326975-2011) held by Richard Martel. The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge the donation of surfactant samples by Stepan, the help of Mr. Luc Trépanier from INRS in designing and installing the foam injection system, of Mr. Marco Boutin from INRS for figures and tables improvements, and of Dr. Clément Portois for internal review. We acknowledge reviewers (M. Babs Oyeneyin from Robert Gordon University and anonymous) for comments and suggested corrections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre Eau Terre Environnement, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), 490 rue de la Couronne, Quebec, QC, G1K 9A9, Canada

    Mélanie Longpré-Girard, Richard Martel, Thomas Robert & René Lefebvre

  2. TechnoRem Inc., 4701 Rue Louis B Mayer, Laval, QC, H7P 6G5, Canada

    Jean-Marc Lauzon

  3. Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, 200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada

    Neil Thomson

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  1. Mélanie Longpré-Girard
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  2. Richard Martel
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  3. Thomas Robert
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  4. René Lefebvre
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  5. Jean-Marc Lauzon
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Correspondence to Richard Martel.

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Longpré-Girard, M., Martel, R., Robert, T. et al. Surfactant Foam Selection for Enhanced Light Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids (LNAPL) Recovery in Contaminated Aquifers. Transp Porous Med 131, 65–84 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-019-01292-0

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