Honors Gallery

2006 Zero-valent metal emulsion for reductive dehalogenation of DNAPLs Southeast

Award: Excellence in Technology Transfer

Year: 2006

Award Type:

Region: Southeast

Laboratory:
NASA Kennedy Space Center

During the early history of the space program, the ground around Launch Complex 34 (LC-34) at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) was polluted with chlo-rinated solvents used to clean Apollo rocket parts. Dense nonaqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) were left untreated in the ground and contaminated water re-sources in the area. DNAPLs are a com-mon cause of environmental contamina-tion at thousands of DOE, DOD, NASA, and private industry facilities. Current approaches for remediation of DNAPL source areas are either inefficient or slow or costly (e.g., thermal treatment). In response to this environ-mental contamination risk, KSC developed Emulsified Zero-Valent Iron (EZVI) for the in-situ treatment of DNAPLs. EZVI is composed of a food-grade surfactant, bio-degradable vegetable oil, water, and ZVI particles, which form emulsion particles that contain the ZVI in water surrounded by an oil-liquid membrane. This technology is one of the few meth-ods available that can treat the DNAPL source. EZVI also overcomes the limi-tations of current DNAPL treatment technologies by providing a method that is quick, effective, and cost-competitive. Benefits include direct treatment of the contaminant source, immobilizing con-taminants, producing nontoxic and more easily degradable by-products, and its environmentally safe qualities. KSC signed five nonexclusive licenses with companies to market and further develop EZVI. One company in particular, Geo-Syntec, intends to market this innovation to clients across North America, Europe, and Australia. Additionally, GeoSyntec also has been awarded funding from the DOD Environmental Security Technol-ogy Certification Program (ESTCP) to enhance the application of this technol-ogy through further laboratory and field demonstrations. TEA, the first EZVI licensee, has either manufactured or deployed over 65,000 gallons of EZVI at private and federal facilities as of October 2005. Weston Solutions injected EZVI at two private industry sites with great success during 2005. Huff and Huff has manufactured and deployed EZVI during 2005, and RNAS received a grant from the Soy-bean Council to further investigate using soybean oil in its EZVI formulation.