- Email: [email protected]
Deep injection disposal of hazardous and industrial waste: Scientific and engineering aspects
190
Book reviews
represent the topic in a 'ready integrated' format may well be a disservice. Reference Holdgate, M. W. (1979) A Perspective on Environmental Pollution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. S. Ormerod
Deep Injection Disposal of Hazardous and Industrial Waste: Scientific and Engineering Aspects. Edited by John A. Apps and Chin-Fu Tsang. Academic Press, 1996, ISBN 0-12-0600-60-9, 760 pp. Price: £110.00. This 760 page volume is a collection of papers from an international symposium held at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in 1994. It is a unique publication in that unlike many texts on deep-well disposal, which focus on North American practices, this contains a wealth of information from activities previously unreported within the former Soviet Union. The book is divided into eight well-balanced sections which cover regulation, general aspects of deep-well injection, well engineering, well testing and modelling, monitoring, waste interactions; a chapter of four papers dealing with the Russian experience and, finally, the injection of solid wastes. Many readers may be uncomfortable that deep-weU disposal operations exist and are being perhaps encouraged by this text. Why inject hazardous waste into the subsurface at all? Surely in this modern age of sustainable processes we should not be irreversibly polluting and sterilizing the subsurface of the planet but should be looking for alternative options? This is perhaps true, but there are still many cases where deep-well disposal is considered a viable means of reducing the threat to human health and pollution of the accessible environment. In the first section, deep-well disposal is placed in its historical perspective, with three succinct papers outlining the present regulatory controls in US and Canada. It is instructive to learn that 89% of US public water supply comes from groundwater, while 11% of the nations' fluid wastes are disposed of through injection wells, often into depleted oil and gas reservoirs. It is no surprise, therefore, that the US leads the way in the regulation and research into deep-well disposal. As with many aspects of modem life, however, the risks and uncertainties associated with deep-well injection makes it a questionable practice and with ever-increasing demands by the public and regulators for better site investigation there is little wonder that the number of hazardous waste injection sites in the US is reducing. The following section deals with general aspects of disposal focusing on formation heterogeneity, density driven flow, fracture dilation, and the effects of matrix diffusion and channelling in fractured host formations based on experience such as the Swedish underground laboratories at Stripa and Aspo. Australian experience of hazardous waste disposal is limited to one site near
Perth, but a number of potentially suitable basins for future waste disposal have been identified and technical experience has been gained through enhanced oil recovery operations. The injection of saline water appears to be a viable option for the future, but laws have recently been passed forbidding hazardous waste disposal into the ground. There is a sobering paper on modelling groundwater flow in the West Siberian Basin by a team from Pacific North West Laboratory. The West Siberian Basin is where the largest known release of radioactivity to the surface environment exists. Apparently 18 000 people have been relocated and 500000 people have been exposed to increased radiation. The subsurface disposal of radioactivity far exceeds that released at the surface and thus deep-well disposal is probably a better environmental option for disposal, though not without major implications for the future if long-lived radionuclides reappear at the surface. There are several useful papers on the construction and testing of injection wells and a number of case histories by industrial operators claiming compliance with regulatory requirements. These give the impression that they are model operations, but I always wonder if we are getting the full story. The chapter on waste interactions provides an insight into geochemical modelling high ionic systems such as brines, and how experimental and field data are lacking for identifying mechanisms and calibrating models. Cosolvency effects between organic compounds is shown to create difficulties in predicting migration in multiphase systems, while European research into carbon dioxide disposal focuses on mineralogical changes in potential North Sea host rocks subjected to core flooding with carbon dioxide at in situ pressures and temperatures. For non-specialists this book is a good read, if only to find out the extent to which deep-well disposal has been going on in the world. For specialists there is a wide range of subject matter to satisfy regulators, geochemists, hydrogeologists, geologists, engineers and mathematical modeUers. The presentation is excellent and the papers are succinct with good figures/tables. It will take a prominent position on my book case, but at a price of £110 it may not find its way to many personal libraries. G. Williams
Bioremediation: Principles and Applications. Edited by R. L. Crawford and D. L. Crawford. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996, ISBN 0-521-47041-2, 400 pp. Price: £65.00. Of the various emerging technologies for the treatment of contaminated soil and water, bioremediation has probably aroused most excitement and there is now a significant track record of its application in clean up. This book is the sixth in a series of reviews of selected topics in biotechnology and provides a timely contribution to the field.
Book reviews
represent the topic in a 'ready integrated' format may well be a disservice. Reference Holdgate, M. W. (1979) A Perspective on Environmental Pollution. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. S. Ormerod
Deep Injection Disposal of Hazardous and Industrial Waste: Scientific and Engineering Aspects. Edited by John A. Apps and Chin-Fu Tsang. Academic Press, 1996, ISBN 0-12-0600-60-9, 760 pp. Price: £110.00. This 760 page volume is a collection of papers from an international symposium held at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in 1994. It is a unique publication in that unlike many texts on deep-well disposal, which focus on North American practices, this contains a wealth of information from activities previously unreported within the former Soviet Union. The book is divided into eight well-balanced sections which cover regulation, general aspects of deep-well injection, well engineering, well testing and modelling, monitoring, waste interactions; a chapter of four papers dealing with the Russian experience and, finally, the injection of solid wastes. Many readers may be uncomfortable that deep-weU disposal operations exist and are being perhaps encouraged by this text. Why inject hazardous waste into the subsurface at all? Surely in this modern age of sustainable processes we should not be irreversibly polluting and sterilizing the subsurface of the planet but should be looking for alternative options? This is perhaps true, but there are still many cases where deep-well disposal is considered a viable means of reducing the threat to human health and pollution of the accessible environment. In the first section, deep-well disposal is placed in its historical perspective, with three succinct papers outlining the present regulatory controls in US and Canada. It is instructive to learn that 89% of US public water supply comes from groundwater, while 11% of the nations' fluid wastes are disposed of through injection wells, often into depleted oil and gas reservoirs. It is no surprise, therefore, that the US leads the way in the regulation and research into deep-well disposal. As with many aspects of modem life, however, the risks and uncertainties associated with deep-well injection makes it a questionable practice and with ever-increasing demands by the public and regulators for better site investigation there is little wonder that the number of hazardous waste injection sites in the US is reducing. The following section deals with general aspects of disposal focusing on formation heterogeneity, density driven flow, fracture dilation, and the effects of matrix diffusion and channelling in fractured host formations based on experience such as the Swedish underground laboratories at Stripa and Aspo. Australian experience of hazardous waste disposal is limited to one site near
Perth, but a number of potentially suitable basins for future waste disposal have been identified and technical experience has been gained through enhanced oil recovery operations. The injection of saline water appears to be a viable option for the future, but laws have recently been passed forbidding hazardous waste disposal into the ground. There is a sobering paper on modelling groundwater flow in the West Siberian Basin by a team from Pacific North West Laboratory. The West Siberian Basin is where the largest known release of radioactivity to the surface environment exists. Apparently 18 000 people have been relocated and 500000 people have been exposed to increased radiation. The subsurface disposal of radioactivity far exceeds that released at the surface and thus deep-well disposal is probably a better environmental option for disposal, though not without major implications for the future if long-lived radionuclides reappear at the surface. There are several useful papers on the construction and testing of injection wells and a number of case histories by industrial operators claiming compliance with regulatory requirements. These give the impression that they are model operations, but I always wonder if we are getting the full story. The chapter on waste interactions provides an insight into geochemical modelling high ionic systems such as brines, and how experimental and field data are lacking for identifying mechanisms and calibrating models. Cosolvency effects between organic compounds is shown to create difficulties in predicting migration in multiphase systems, while European research into carbon dioxide disposal focuses on mineralogical changes in potential North Sea host rocks subjected to core flooding with carbon dioxide at in situ pressures and temperatures. For non-specialists this book is a good read, if only to find out the extent to which deep-well disposal has been going on in the world. For specialists there is a wide range of subject matter to satisfy regulators, geochemists, hydrogeologists, geologists, engineers and mathematical modeUers. The presentation is excellent and the papers are succinct with good figures/tables. It will take a prominent position on my book case, but at a price of £110 it may not find its way to many personal libraries. G. Williams
Bioremediation: Principles and Applications. Edited by R. L. Crawford and D. L. Crawford. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996, ISBN 0-521-47041-2, 400 pp. Price: £65.00. Of the various emerging technologies for the treatment of contaminated soil and water, bioremediation has probably aroused most excitement and there is now a significant track record of its application in clean up. This book is the sixth in a series of reviews of selected topics in biotechnology and provides a timely contribution to the field.