Soil and Groundwater Remediations

Remediation of a petrochemical plant in Antwerp (Belgium)

Cyclohexane is a product that is used as a solvent in the production process of elastomers. At this petrochemical area in Antwerp, the cleitn was required to remediate the site after this cyclohexane entered the soil following leaks in the storage tanks. Since the soil contamination occurred within an operational production zone, it was very important to design a remediation method that would not impede business activities and safety on the site.

Therefore in-situ remediation was seen to be the best option. The contamination was pumped up in three stages from seventy extraction points (solution, gas phase and free phase). Three high vacuum pumps in sequence were used for extraction.

The mixture of soil air, groundwater and pure product were directed to the purification system, 200 m further along. There, the groundwater was purified in a oil water separator, strip tower and carbon filter (5 m³/h). The extracted air and air from the stripping towers was purified in a catalytic incineration plant (1500 Nm³/h).

Because of built-in control, the cyclohexane contamination load could be carefully dosed and thus autothermic catalytic incineration could be achieved. The plant was designed to be explosion proof.