CL:AIRE is pleased to announce that a report on soil and groundwater remediation technologies for former gasworks and gasholder sites is now available to download.
It is the output of a research project conducted by CL:AIRE for the Gas Distribution Network (GDN) companies. The project was funded by Wales & West Utilities (WWU) partnered with the Energy Innovation Centre.
Describing the key issues and contaminants that the GDNs are currently facing, the report identifies five main types of contaminated sites that exist on the GDNs inventory as follows:
- General redundant sites;
- Operationally constrained sites, containing infrastructure and live services;
- Sites that have immediate borders with surface waters;
- Small, remote, low value sites; and,
- Sites that have shared source structures/part-ownership.
It describes the main soil and groundwater technologies that are currently available to treat the common contaminants associated with former gasworks and gasholder sites and categorises them as in situ, ex situ, and traditional civil engineering methods.
The report also considers which of these technologies are likely to be appropriate on the five types of sites above, but the discussion comes with an important caveat and concentrates solely on their general technical suitability.
It focuses on soil and groundwater remediation in the UK and internationally so that lessons can be learned from other jurisdictions on how different stakeholders remediate their former gasworks and gasholder facilities.
The regulatory framework of the UK is described and includes recent changes in legislation and what potential legislative impacts and drivers may impact the GDNs in the future.
It is apparent from the information gathered in the report that there are contaminants that are difficult to treat using commercially available technologies – spent oxide and gas purification wastes, coal tar and water gas tar. The report also highlights some new innovative technologies that have been developed that should be of interest to the GDNs.