A groundwater treatment technology developed at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has won NASA's Government Invention of the Year and Commercial Invention of the Year awards for 2005.
The emulsified zero-valent iron (EZVI) technology was developed by a team of researchers from NASA and the University of Central Florida.
NASA inventors include Dr. Jacqueline Quinn, an environmental engineer in the Applied Sciences Division of the Kennedy Applied Technology Directorate, and Kathleen Brooks, an analytical chemist in the center's Materials Science Laboratory of the Center Operations Directorate. Drs. Christian Clausen, Cherie Geiger and Debra Reinhart are co-inventors from the university's Departments of Chemistry and Civil Environmental Engineering.
During the early history of the space program, the ground around Launch Complex 34 (LC-34) at KSC was polluted with chlorinated solvents used to clean Apollo rocket parts. Dense nonaqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) left untreated in the ground contaminated fresh water sources in the area.
A DNAPL is a liquid that is denser than water and does not dissolve or mix easily in water. DNAPLs are a common cause of environmental contamination at thousands of DOE, DOD, NASA, and private industry facilities.
Current approaches for remediation of DNAPL source areas are either inefficient or slow (e.g., pump and treat) or costly (e.g., thermal treatment). In response to this environmental contamination, KSC developed EZVI for the in situ treatment of DNAPLs.
EZVI shows significant promise as a cost-effective remediation technology capable of expediting DNAPL source zone remediation and groundwater cleanup.
EZVI is composed of a food-grade surfactant, biodegradable vegetable oil, water, and ZVI particles (either nano- or microscale iron), which form emulsion particles that contain the ZVI in water surrounded by an oil-liquid membrane.
The conventional approach to this type of contamination is to use pump-and-treat systems that extract and treat the groundwater above ground.
This conventional technology is basically a plume control technology and would have to be implemented as long as groundwater contamination exists.
EZVI is an innovative in situ technology that will greatly exceed the capabilities of conventional pump-and-treat systems—both in time to achieve cleanup and cost avoidance.
This technology overcomes the previous understanding that the incorporation of zero-valent metal particles, such as iron particles, into a liquid membrane micelle would lead to passivation of the particle surface with regard to its ability to dehalogenate compounds.
Other than being quick, effective, and cost-competitive, the technology also provides for direct treatment of the contaminant source, does not mobilize contaminants, produces less toxic and more easily degradable byproducts, and is environmentally safe. KSC signed five nonexclusive licenses with companies wanting 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.
KSC's EZVI injection tool being lowered into the injection well.
