--> Abstract: Inflatable Packers Move from Petroleum Industry to Environmental Industry, by R. J. Bamford; #90954 (1995).

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Abstract: Inflatable Packers Move from Petroleum Industry to Environmental Industry

Ross J. Bamford

Inflatable packers have been used extensively in the petroleum industry for cementing, testing, fracturing, plugging, and treatment of wells. Today the technology is being applied increasingly in the environmental and geotechnical areas, and the use of inflatable packers has become standard practice in these fields. With emerging applications, new tools are continually being developed. This paper describes three relatively new applications for inflatable packers in the environmental industry: 1) operating and sealing Class I injection wells, 2) isolating bedrock intervals for hydro-geological testing and sampling, and 3) pneumatic and hydraulic fracturing to increase recovery of contaminants.

Electronic instrumentation is making possible the real time acquisition of data essential to the new applications. The use of a tipple transducer sub-assembly for formation testing will be described. A purging and sampling technique employing packers that was developed at the Love Canal hazardous waste site will be briefly described.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90954©1995 AAPG Eastern Section, Schenectady, New York