--> Abstract: Design and Construction of a Biocell, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, by S. D. Marks, R. E. Moore, Jr., and C. S. Kuntz; #90987 (1993).

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MARKS, STEPHEN D., ROBERT E. MOORE, Jr., and CHARLES S. KUNTZ, Dames and Moore, Inc., Atlanta, GA

ABSTRACT: Design and Construction of a Biocell, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania

A single large capacity, fully encapsulated, biocell was designed and assembled adjacently to a natural gas pumping facility located in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania. The biocell measured 100 feet x 150 feet x 9 feet and provided capacity for 5,000 cubic yards of petroleum hydrocarbon contaminated soil and bulking agent. Various ancillary components including: mechanical, electrical, temperature, moisture control, and instrumentation were developed and installed at the site to monitor and control the biocell support systems.

The development of the large scale biocell was encouraged by two primary factors: (1) favorable preconstruction laboratory bench scale studies indicating that hydrocarbons present in soil samples collected from the subject site could be effectively degraded by utilizing and stimulating microorganisms indigenous to the impacted soils; And (2) prior successful experience gained during the construction and operation of two smaller 2,500 cubic yard biocells, yielded additional insight into biocell theory and provided a field testing laboratory to investigate system design efficiency.

The basic biocell components consisted of: aeration and nutrient delivery manifolds and piping, effluent collection systems, pumps, fans, vacuum and pressure gauges, and an encapsulating liner. Although the basic system components remained unchanged from those of previously assembled biocells, the larger cell incorporated certain design modifications which differed. These enhancements and improvements primarily functioned to reduce and control moisture dropping out from the humid air drawn through the cell and exiting by means of the cell piping. Moisture was captured, stored and circulated to the biocell. Specifically, gravity feed storage lines and vessels were employed to divert precipitation away from the aeration manifolds, knockout drums, and in-line carbon air filtering units.< P>

Other enhancements to the cell included: buried temperature probes that provided a method for monitoring microbial activity within eleven different quadrants of the cell; Remote panels for operation and monitoring control, additional electrical breakers and heaters to provide greater surge protection for fans and pumps, silt reducing socks to cover aeration piping, water meters to measure effluent, and the development of a method that would further enable reuse of key biocell components at the end of each eighteento twenty-four month hydrocarbon reduction cycles.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90987©1993 AAPG Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 25-28, 1993.