Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus (2005) 6: 1–4 DOI: 10.1007/s11267-005-9000-7
C
Springer 2006
ADVANCES IN REMEDIATION TECHNOLOGY AMVROSSIOS C. BAGTZOGLOU Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-2037. (e-mail:
[email protected])
(Received 1 November 2005; accepted 17 November 2005)
The field of Environmental Engineering is fast approaching maturity levels. At the same time it has clearly established itself as one of the classic multi- and inter-disciplinary areas of specialization. One cannot be seriously involved in Environmental Engineering activities without strong collaborative ties across multiple sub-areas of specialization. For example, Environmental Biotechnology deals with biological waste treatment, microbial physiology and genetics, bioremediation and biodegradation of xenobiotic compounds, bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation, molecular ecology of biofilms, bioremediation and green chemicals synthesis, and numerous other applications. Environmental Modeling, on the other hand, is usually conducted in tandem with work in Environmental Biotechnology at the design phase and deals with mass transfer mechanisms in bacterial biofilms, surface and groundwater flow and contaminant transport, optimization of novel catalytic materials and absorbents, fluid mechanics and heat transfer of reacting single and multi-phase flows, forest micrometeorology and microclimatology, estuarine restoration and many other areas of application. The ultimate test of both areas of sub-specialization, however, comes to bear at the Site Remediation level. This area entails remediation of sites contaminated by DNAPLs, LNAPLs and heavy metals through application of three-dimensional in-situ, non-destructive sampling, development of field analytical methods for volatile organic contaminants, application of multimedia technology for improving contaminant investigations, air-sparging, remediation of soil and aquifer systems with enhanced mixing, colloid-facilitated transport and several other applications. The Mid-Atlantic Industrial and Hazardous Waste Conference (MAIHWC) is an annual meeting of US engineering and science professionals from academia, government and industry. Strong international representation has also been a key to the conference’s success over the years. The MAIHWC is organized by a consortium of the following universities: Bucknell University, Columbia University, Pennsylvania State University, Carnegie Mellon University, Manhattan College, University of Pittsburgh, University of Cincinnati, Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, Univer-
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sity of Connecticut, University of Rhode Island, University of Delaware, Drexel University, Rutgers, the State University of NJ, Syracuse University, Howard University, SUNY Buffalo, Johns Hopkins University, Stevens Institute of Technology, Lehigh University, West Virginia University, University of Maryland, Villanova University, University of Massachusetts, Virginia Polytechnic & State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Polytechnic University. The 36th MAIHWC was hosted by the University of Connecticut in October of 2004. The conference was chaired by Dr. Amvrossios Bagtzoglou (University of Connecticut) and co-chaired by Dr. Konstantinos Kostarelos (Polytechnic University). Recent developments in research, engineering practice, and regulation were exchanged mainly through oral and some poster presentations. A total of sixty five abstracts were received and reviewed and during the three-day conference forty four papers were presented. Full papers and extended abstracts for the forty four papers presented at the 36th MAIHWC were published in CD Conference Proceedings (available through several abstracting and indexing services). Selected papers have undergone peerreview and are published in this special issue. The review process was handled by Dr. Amvrossios C. Bagtzoglou (Guest Editor) and Drs. Pat Bresnahan, Amine Dahmani, Ronald Green, and Dino Kostarelos, who served as Guest Associate Editors. Each paper received reviews from two external referees, the Guest Associate Editor in charge and the Guest Editor. The sixteen papers included herein span a very exciting spectrum of Environmental Engineering applications and transcend almost all aspects of remediation technology. They can be broadly classified in one or more of the following five thematic areas: Air Pollution Mitigation (Bagtzoglou and Kim, 2006; Cai et al., 2006), Estuarine and Wastewater Remediation (Bagtzoglou and Kim, 2006; Dimou and Pecchioli, 2006; Jahan et al., 2006; Min and Ergas, 2006; Park et al., 2006; Sengupta et al., 2006; Warner, 2006), Soil and Ground Water Remediation (Bagtzoglou and Kim, 2006; Dahmani et al., 2006; Dermatas et al., 2006; Green et al., 2006; Jahan et al., 2006; Kostarelos et al., 2006; Min and Ergas, 2006; Nadim et al., 2006; Park et al., 2006; Sampanpanish et al., 2006), Site Characterization (Dimou and Pecchioli, 2006; Liu, 2006; Ozbek and Pinder, 2006; Warner, 2006), and Numerical Modeling (Bagtzoglou and Kim, 2006; Green et al., 2006; Liu, 2006; Min and Ergas, 2006; Ozbek and Pinder, 2006; Warner, 2006).
Acknowledgments The papers included in this special issue stemmed from a conference, which was sponsored in part by the School of Engineering (SOE), the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), and the Environmental Engineering Program (EEP) of the University of Connecticut. We gratefully acknowledge SOE Dean Amir Faghri, CEE Head Erling Smith, and EEP Director (at the time of the
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conference) Dani Or for their substantive help. The conference keynote presenters invested a great deal of their time in presenting the state-of-the-science in their respective fields. These are in alphabetical order: Professor D. Grasso (Dean of the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Vermont), Dr. R. Green (Staff Scientist at Southwest Research Institute), Professor H. Inyang (Duke Energy Distinguished Professor and Director of the Global Institute for Energy and Environmental Systems at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte), and Professor D. Miller (Natural Resources Management and Engineering at the University of Connecticut). Finally, the assistance and helpful suggestions of Dr. J. T. Trevors, the Journal’s Editor-in-Chief, and Dr. P. Roos and Mrs. B. van Herk, from the Environmental, Earth and Aquatic Sciences Publishing Manager’s office are greatly appreciated.
References Bagtzoglou, A. C. and Kim, D.: 2006, ‘Modeling Contaminant Transport at the Pore-Micropore Interface’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue). Cai, Z., Kim, D. and Sorial, G. A.: 2006, ‘Performance of Trickle-Bed Air Biofilter: A Comparative Study of a Hydrophilic and a Hydrophobic VOC’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue). Dahmani, M. A., Huang, K. and Hoag, G. E.: 2006, ‘Sodium Persulfate Oxidation for the Remediation of Chlorinated Solvents–USEPA Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue). Dermatas, D., Cao, X., D., Tsaneva, V., Shen, G. and Grubb, D. G.: 2006, ‘Fate and Behavior of Metal(Loid) Contaminants in an Organic Matter-Rich Shooting Range Soil: Implications for Remediation’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue). Dimou, K. N. and Pecchioli, D. G.: 2006, ‘The New Jersey Toxics Reduction Workplan for NY-NJ Harbor: Distribution of PCDD/Fs in Ambient Waters’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue). Green, R. T., Painter, S. L. and Sun, A.: 2006, ‘Groundwater Contamination in Karst Terranes’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue). Jahan, K., Mosto, P., Mattson, C., Frey, E. and Derchak, L.: 2006, ‘Microbial Removal of Arsenic’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue). Kostarelos, K., Reale, D., Dermatas, D., Rao, E. and Moon, D. H.: 2006, ‘Optimum Dose of Lime and Fly Ash for Treatment of Hexavalent Chromium–Contaminated Soil’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue). Liu, L. 2006, ‘Fracture Characterization Using Borehole Radar: Numerical Modeling’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue). Min, K. and Ergas, S. J.: 2006, ‘Volatilization and Biodegradation of VOCs in Membrane Bioreactors (MBR)’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue). Nadim, F., Huang, K.-C. and Dahmani, A. M.: 2006, ‘Remediation of Soil and Ground Water Contaminated with PAH Using Heat and Fe(II)-EDTA Catalyzed Persulfate Oxidation’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue).
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Ozbek, M. M. and Pinder, G. F.: 2006, ‘Non-Probabilistic Uncertainty in Subsurface Hydrology and its Applications: An Overview’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue). Park, S.-W., Kim, S.-K., Kim, J.-B., Choi, S.-W., Inyang, H. I. and Tokunaga, S.: 2006, ‘Particle Surface Hydrophobicity and the Dechlorination of Chloro-Compounds by Iron Sulfides’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue). Sampanpanish, P., Pongsapich, W., Khaodhiar, S. and Khan, E.: 2006, ‘Chromium Removal from Soil by Phytoremediation with Weed Plant Species in Thailand’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue). Sengupta, S., Ergas, S. J., Lopez-Luna, E., Sahu, A. K. and Palaniswamy, K.: 2006, ‘Autotrophic Biological Denitrification for Complete Removal of Nitrogen from Septic System Wastewater’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue). Warner, G. S.: 2006, ‘SEDTRAP: A Conceptual Model for Trap Efficiencies in a Sedimentation Basin’, Water, Air, and Soil Pollution: Focus on Advances in Remediation Technology (this issue).
