Laboratory model of a petroleum migration barrier in arctic alaska

Child's Pad is a gravel construction pad that was contaminated with petroleum during oil-field service operations in Deadhorse, AK. As part of a remedial action plan, a buffer strip of uncontaminated sandy gravel was placed along certain sections of the pad boundary. A peroxygen formulation manufactured by Regenesis Copyright, sold as Oxygen Release Compound (ORC(R)), was placed in the buffer strips. The ORC was intended to supply oxygen to aerobic microorganisms capable of degrading petroleum. Tests were conducted in a 1/2 scale laboratory cell to determine the oxygen release characteristics of the ORC when subjected to expected subsurface flow rates of up to 0. 02 l/s (6.9 m/day). In laboratory tests, a zone of enhanced oxygen concentration was formed down-gradient from the ORC socks. Only during periods when the flow rate was less than 0.01-0.015 l/s (3. 5-5.2 m/day) was ORC-oxygen observed at monitoring points up-gradient or directly cross-gradient of the ORC. Conclusions from the laboratory study were that ORC may provide an aerobic zone in the Child's Pad barrier as far as 1 m directly down-gradient of the sock during periods of high flows (6.9 m/day). Copyright 1999 Elsevier Science B.V.