EZVI Technology Cleans Up Contaminants at Kennedy Space Center

Jacobs Engineering Group
Pasadena, CA
www.jacobs.com

CORE Engineering and Construction
Winter Park, FL
www.core-encon.com

A groundwater technology developed at Kennedy Space Center was used to treat subsurface contaminants near one of the center’s buildings: the Reutilization, Recycling and Marketing Facility (RRMF).

Workers with Jacobs Engineering Group and CORE Engineering and Construction used more than 9,000 gallons of EZVI to treat subsurface contaminants near the RRMF at Kennedy Space Center. (NASA/Anne Chrest)

The RRMF was constructed in the late 1960s for the storage and recycling of a variety of equipment and chemicals. Over the course of nine days, the center’s Remediation Program injected Emulsified Zero-Valent Iron (EZVI) into an area of about 2,200 square feet, to a depth of 27 feet below ground surface. The target was the chlorinated solvent tetra-chloroethene, also known as PERC, which had been historically released into the environment.

Remediation Project Manager Anne Chrest of Kennedy’s Center Operations Directorate led the cleanup efforts. Workers with Jacobs Engineering Group and CORE Engineering and Construction used more than 9,000 gallons of EZVI in the treatment area. The site will be monitored for several years, ensuring that cleanup objectives are achieved. Groundwater samples will be collected over time.

EZVI directly treats the contaminant source without mobilizing contaminants.

Invented by Jackie Quinn, a NASA environmental engineer, EZVI currently is one of several available groundwater remediation technologies that can treat chlorinated solvent source material, known as dense nonaqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs). The liquids are denser than water and do not dissolve or mix easily in water. The EZVI process places nanoscale zero-valent iron particles into a surfactant-stabilized, biodegradable, oil-in-water emulsion. The emulsion is then injected into the contaminated zones.

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