Discontinuous permeable adsorptive barrier design and cost analysis: a methodological approach to optimisation

Area of Science:

• Environmental Engineering
• Hydrogeology
• Remediation Technologies

Background:

• Permeable adsorptive barriers (PABs) are effective for in-situ groundwater remediation.
• Discontinuous PABs (PAB-D) offer potential cost savings but require careful design optimization.
• Benzene contamination in urban aquifers presents significant environmental challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and optimize a discontinuous permeable adsorptive barrier (PAB-D) design.
• To identify the most cost-effective PAB-D configuration for a benzene-contaminated aquifer.
• To compare the performance and cost-effectiveness of optimized PAB-D versus continuous PAB (PAB-C).

Main Methods:

• Systematic variation of PAB-D design parameters: well diameter, inter-well spacing, and inter-line spacing.
• Cost analysis for different PAB-D configurations.
• Case study application to a benzene-contaminated aquifer in Naples, Italy.
• Comparative analysis with a continuous permeable adsorptive barrier (PAB-C).

Main Results:

• The optimal PAB-D configuration featured a well diameter of 0.8 m.
• This optimized PAB-D layout demonstrated superior performance and cost-effectiveness.
• The optimized PAB-D resulted in a 40% reduction in total remediation costs compared to PAB-C.

Conclusions:

• Optimized discontinuous permeable adsorptive barriers (PAB-D) are a highly cost-effective solution for groundwater remediation.
• PAB-D design optimization is crucial for maximizing performance and minimizing costs.
• The study validates the economic and environmental benefits of PAB-D for benzene-contaminated sites.