Sustainable Remediation of Contaminated Soil and Groundwater

Materials, Processes, and Assessment

Deyi Hou

• Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9780128179826
• eBook ISBN: 9780128179833
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Engineering General
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Sustainable Remediation of Contaminated Soil and Groundwater: Materials, Processes, and Assessment provides the remediation tools and techniques necessary for simultaneously saving time and money and maximizing environmental, social and economic benefits. The book integrates green materials, cleaner processes, and sustainability assessment methods for planning, designing and implementing a more effective remediation process for both soil and groundwater projects. With this book in hand, engineers will find a valuable guide to greener remediation materials that render smaller environmental footprint, cleaner processes that minimize secondary environmental impact, and sustainability assessment methods that can be used to guide the development of materials and processes.- Addresses materials, processes, and assessment needs for implementing a successful sustainable remediation process- Provides an integrated approach for the unitization of various green technologies, such as green materials, cleaner processes and sustainability assessment- Includes case studies based on full-scale commercial soil and groundwater remediation projects

Chapter 1

Green and sustainable remediation: concepts, principles, and pertaining research

Deyi Hou, and David O'Connor School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Abstract

Land contamination represents a global challenge for modern society and a risk to meeting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. Environmental remediation was historically viewed as an inherently sustainable activity, as it restores contaminated land; however, researchers and practitioners are increasingly recognizing that there can be substantial environmental footprints and socioeconomic costs associated with remediation. Sustainability is an imperative in the emerging green and sustainable remediation movement, which is reshaping the entire remediation industry. In this chapter, we define the key concepts pertaining to green and sustainable remediation, including green remediation, green materials, and primary, secondary, and tertiary impacts. Several general principles are examined, including: going beyond site boundaries, looking beyond contemporary time horizons, expanding to social and economic sustainability, fostering resilience, and embracing nature-based solutions. Lastly, the chapter provides a brief introduction to the following 15 chapters, encompassing three main schemes: sustainability assessment and sustainable behavior, green remediation materials, and sustainable remediation processes.

Keywords

Contaminated land; Contaminated site; Green and sustainable remediation; Green remediation; Life-cycle assessment; Soil pollution; Sustainability assessment; Sustainable remediation

1. Background

The international community is eagerly seeking new scientific knowledge, policy instruments, and other endeavors to meet the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which balance social, economic, and environmental needs. While nearly all industries are seeking sustainability in their operation, one industry has been particularly active, namely, the remediation industry. Literature on sustainable remediation (SR) and green remediation (GR) has grown exponentially over the last decade (see Fig. 1.1), and sustainability is now viewed as an “imperative” in many developed countries such as the US and UK (Hou and Al-Tabbaa, 2014; Hou et al., 2014b).

Figure 1.1 Growing numbers of publications on green and sustainable remediation.

Green and sustainable remediation (GSR) also renders benefits in emerging remediation markets (note: the subtle differences between SR, GR, and GSR are further discussed in Section 2.2). While traditional remediation focuses on the contaminated site itself and health risk to site users, GSR takes a more holistic approach by examining life-cycle impacts and encompassing wider socio-economic effects (Hou et al., 2014a; Song et al., 2018). Such a holistic approach leads to more efficient usage of limited resources. A strategic benefit for developing countries dealing with large numbers of contaminated sites. Such benefits have been well studied and demonstrated in developed countries but are probably more needed in developing countries (Hou et al., 2016b).

Technical standards will assist the successful implementation of GSR and help bring convergence. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) published its first Green Remediation standard in 2013 (revised in 2016): ASTM E2893—16e1 Standard Guide for Greener Cleanups. The International Organization for Standardization ISO published a Sustainable Remediation standard in 2017: ISO 18504:2017 Soil quality–Sustainable remediation. A task force, led by Tsinghua University, is currently working on China's first GSR technical standard, which is expected to be published in 2019. Such technical standards will undoubtedly enhance the capability of practitioners who implement GSR.

2. Concepts

2.1. Definition of sustainable remediation

Sustainable remediation (SR) is defined as a holistic approach where the environmental, social, and economic benefits of remediation are maximized for all stakeholders, inside and outside of the site boundary, in both current and future generations.

SR should meet the following five criteria:

• 1) All viable remediation alternatives are evaluated by an evidence-based sustainability assessment of environmental, social, and economic impacts.
• 2) The sustainability benefits of the chosen remedial alternative exceed the local and wider detrimental impacts on a life-cycle basis.
• 3) Relevant and up-to-date best management practice is applied to minimize secondary emissions, waste, energy and resource use, and ecological impacts.
• 4) The social impacts to workers and local communities are considered and addressed by stakeholder engagement.

• 

  Figure 1.2 A framework of sustainability assessment for defining sustainable remediation.

• 5) The remediation minimizes life-cycle project costs and maximizes gains in the wider economy.

Fig. 1.2 depicts a framework for sustainability assessment at different levels. The new SR paradigm goes beyond the traditional boundary of traditional risk-based remediation in three aspects: temporally, spatially, and in the number of impact categories considered.

2.2. Pertaining concepts

2.2.1. Green remediation

In the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) definition, the practice of “green remediation” uses strategies such as the use of natural resources and energy efficiently, reduction of negative impacts on the environment, minimization or elimination of pollution at its source, and reduction of waste to the greatest extent possible, in order to take into account all environmental effects of remedy implementation for contaminated sites and to incorporate options that maximize the net environmental benefit of cleanup actions (USEPA, 2008).

2.2.2. Green and sustainable remediation

In the context of this book, green and sustainable remediation (GSR) is synonymous with sustainable remediation. It should be noted that GSR has been defined by the US-based Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC) as the site-specific use of products, processes, technologies, and procedures that mitigate contaminant risk to receptors while balancing community goals, economic impacts, and net environmental effects.

2.2.3. Green materials

In the context of this book, “green materials”, or more specifically, “green remediation materials”, refer to materials that differ from their traditional alternatives in the following ways: (1) their design meets green chemistry principles; or (2) their manufacturing renders lower life-cycle environmental impacts compared with traditional remediation materials based on the common functional unit.

2.2.4. Primary impacts

Primary impacts refer to impacts associated with the state of contaminated sites and site contaminants. Examples of primary impacts include greenhouse gas (GHG) emission from contaminated land, health impacts from site contamination, landscape degradation (Hou et al., 2014c).

2.2.5. Secondary impacts

Secondary impacts refer to impacts associated with remedial activity. Secondary impacts often arise from the use of energy (e.g., fuel and electricity) and materials (e.g., the manufacture of zerovalent iron (ZVI) for permeable reactive barriers or substrates for enhanced in situ bioremediation [EIB]). Postremediation monitoring can also cause significant secondary impacts, especially monitoring of remediation that has low certainty of meeting remedial objectives, which requires more frequent or longer-term monitoring (Hou et al., 2014d).

2.2.6. Tertiary impacts

Tertiary impacts refer to impacts associated with the holistic postremediation site use, often involving site redevelopment. For example, the redevelopment of brownfield sites in downtown urban areas is an alternative to greenfield development in suburban areas, resulting in less demand for new infrastructure such as road and utilities, as well as shorter commute distances, greater use of public transport, and less energy consumption (Hou et al., 2018b).

3. General principles

3.1. Going beyond the site boundary

Traditional decision-making in contaminated site management focuses on the site itself. Many secondary impacts, such as environmental emission associated with energy and material acquisition, air pollution due to transport, and the environmental risk of landfilling waste, are not typically considered and rarely quantified. In the new paradigm of SR, the impact assessment goes beyond the site boundary, sometimes encompassing the entire planet, e.g., in a life-cycle assessment (LCA). Breaking through the traditional spatial boundary enables more h...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Contributors
• Chapter 1. Green and sustainable remediation: concepts, principles, and pertaining research
• Chapter 2. Green and sustainable remediation: past, present, and future developments
• Chapter 3. Sustainability assessment for remediation decision-making
• Chapter 4. Best management practices for sustainable remediation
• Chapter 5. Green remediation by using low-carbon cement-based stabilization/solidification approaches
• Chapter 6. The use of biochar for sustainable treatment of contaminated soils
• Chapter 7. Application of slow-release materials for in situ and passive remediation of contaminated groundwater
• Chapter 8. Controlling secondary pollution impacts during enhanced in situ anaerobic bioremediation
• Chapter 9. Star: a uniquely sustainable in situ and ex situ remediation process
• Chapter 10. Long-term effectiveness of in situ solidification/stabilization
• Chapter 11. Remedial process optimization and sustainability benefits
• Chapter 12. Landscape architecture and sustainable remediation
• Chapter 13. Phytoremediation value chains and modeling
• Chapter 14. The sustainability of nanoremediation—two initial case studies from Europe
• Chapter 15. Understanding the diverse norms and rules driving sustainable remediation: a study of positioning, aggregation, and scoping
• Chapter 16. Socioeconomic benefit of contaminated site remediation
• Index