CLU-IN.ORG | Technology Focus: AIR SPARGING, Overview

Air Sparging

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◊ Air Sparging
◊ Bioreactor Landfills
◊ Bioremediation of Chlorinated Solvents
◊ Bioventing and Biosparging
◊ Electrokinetics: Electric Current Technologies
◊ Fracturing
◊ Ground-Water Circulating Wells
◊ In Situ Flushing
◊ In Situ Oxidation
◊ Multi-Phase Extraction
◊ Natural Attenuation
◊ Permeable Reactive Barriers
◊ Phytoremediation
◊ Remediation Optimization
◊ Soil Vapor Extraction
◊ Soil Washing
◊ Solvent Extraction
◊ Thermal Treatment: Ex Situ
◊ Thermal Treatment: In Situ

Overview

Air sparging involves the injection of air or oxygen through a contaminated aquifer. Injected air traverses horizontally and vertically in channels through the soil column, creating an underground stripper that removes volatile and semivolatile organic contaminants by volatilization. The injected air helps to flush the contaminants into the unsaturated zone. SVE usually is implemented in conjunction with air sparging to remove the generated vapor-phase contamination from the vadose zone. Oxygen added to the contaminated groundwater and vadose-zone soils also can enhance biodegradation of contaminants below and above the water table.

4.38 Air Sparging
In Remediation Technologies Screening Matrix and Reference Guide, Version 3.0. Federal Remediation Technologies Roundtable.

Air Sparging
EPA 510-B-95-007, 1995

A Citizen's Guide to Soil Vapor Extraction and Air Sparging
EPA 542-F-01-006, 2001

Download Spanish Translation (288K/PDF)

The Citizen's Guide Series are 2-page fact sheets that provide a general description on approaches to clean up contaminated was sites. The fact sheets cover five questions about each clean up approach: What is it?, How does it work?, Is it safe?, How long will it take?, and Why use it?.

Technology Overview Report: Air Sparging
1996

This report, prepared by the Ground Water Remediation Technologies Analysis Center (GWRTAC), provides a brief overview of air sparging, including an introduction to its general principles, reported applicability and utilization, and cited advantages/disadvantages.

Treatment Technologies for Site Cleanup: Annual Status Report (ASR), Twelfth Edition
EPA 542-R-07-012, 2007

ASR Remediation Database

View/Download Previous Editions

The Twelfth Edition of this report, published by the EPA Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology Innovation (OSRTI) in September 2007, documents treatment technology applications at more than 1,900 soil and groundwater cleanup projects at National Priorities List (NPL) sites. The status of more than 1,200 projects included in the ASR Eleventh Edition is updated, and information about 192 new projects derived from Records of Decision (ROD) signed from 2002 through 2005 is added. The report also includes a special section about on-site containment remedies. The ASR is based on the analysis of nearly 3,000 RODs signed since 1982 at 1,536 NPL sites. The online version includes new downloadable spreadsheets with the data for several of the key tables and figures in the report. Specific information about each technology application included in the ASR Twelfth Edition is available in the ASR Remediation Database.