Why Do Great Consultants Use Horizontal Wells?

Here’s how an experienced consultant solved longstanding challenges and frustrations with a live remediation project that also highlights why some of the best in the industry turn to horizontal wells when they need a solution that performs better and more quickly. Our client, a respected industry professional, had this to say at the conclusion of their remediation efforts.

“On this one site, using horizontal wells, I have probably cleaned up more contamination with SVE than all the SVE projects I have designed in the past 30 years.” Vitthal Hosangadi, Vice President, NOREAS, Inc.

Directional Technologies was called in to assist with a site that had a large, comingled contaminant plume of TCE and jet fuel. The majority of the contaminant plume was located beneath a large building, and previous efforts to remediate the site using vertical wells had not been successful. Although the consultant was a leader in the environmental consulting field, they had no prior experience with horizontal remediation wells. In close coordination with the consultant, Directional Technologies and the consultant worked together to design a solution leveraging horizontal remediation strategies. The solution was to install three horizontal steam injection wells, five horizontal soil vapor extraction wells, and two horizontal DNAPL recovery wells. The total combined length of screen for the wells was over 2,000 feet.

Immediately after installation, the measured extraction rates of TCE and jet fuel were superior to the performance of the vertical soil vapor extraction wells that had previously been installed. Inlet flow for the horizontal soil vapor extraction wells was measured at an average of approximately 50 scfm with flow rates as high as 160 scfm. VOC concentrations at the inlets for the horizontal soil vapor extraction wells were measured at an average of 5,000 ppm. (See graphs below.)

The amount of contaminants removed by the horizontal wells far exceeded the site owner’s expectations.  Indeed, it was so successful that the vacuum setting for one of the horizontal soil vapor extraction wells was able to be substantially reduced after less than four months of operation due to already having achieved a significant influence on the surrounding plume. Due to the horizontal wells’ exceptional performance, the project’s remediation goals for this historically challenging site is exceeding expected clean up rates. The horizontal well installations were able to be completed without interruptions to operations at the site.

More technical details on this project can be found in the PowerPoint Presentation from the 2018 Battelle Platform presentation.

This site is just one example of hundreds of projects where even experienced consultants have learned why horizontal remediation wells can be a superior choice for their projects. Horizontal wells:

• Help solve complex challenges
• Deliver remediation system performance that works faster and is more effective
• Avoid business disruptions
• Offer a competitive advantage 

Often, the more challenging and unique the project requirements, the more likely it is that a horizontal well remediation strategy will be a fit. In particular, for vertical well projects that simply are not proving out and show no sign of nearing site closure, horizontal well strategies can be a game-changer.

Call our horizontal remediation well experts at 1-877-788-4479 to discuss your current project needs.

This chart is a sample of the data collected that demonstrates that even after the flow rates were reduced, there were still high levels of VOCs. This data is an example of horizontal wells’ versatility and the technology’s ability to increase and decrease flow rates.  After four months of operation at high capacity, the vacuum at SVE well 1B was reduced, and the horizontal well continued to operate for an additional three months.

The graph above shows typical VOC concentrations measured at the inlet of SVE well 1B.  Note on April 20, 2018, the dramatic increase in VOC’s. The increase of the VOCs was due to simultaneously operating the horizontal SVE and horizontal steam injection wells.