Environmental Remediation Services

The CommTank team of remediation professionals have the experience, technical capability, and operational expertise to manage both small and large-scale environmental projects. Our service area spans property all throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire.  People with home or business property depend on information we offer based on more than 25 years of remediation experience.

The results-oriented systems that our team of technical and operations specialists use incorporate both off-site removal and on-site treatment as needed.

Our service list and area capabilities include:

• Emergency Response Service
• Free Product Recovery
• Aboveground Tank Removal
• Underground Tank Removal
• Soil Excavation
• Mobile Drilling
• In Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO)
• Soil Vapor Extraction
• Waste removal
• Air Sparging
• Bioslurping
• Bioremediation
• Surfactant Enhanced Aquifer Remediation (SEAR)
• Pump and Treatment Systems for Contaminated Ground Water
• Pump and treatment system for oil spill remediation

When considering the use of one or more treatment technologies, our environmental team will coordinate with your LSP to consider the goals of remediation. For example, tank removal, ground water treatment, waste removal, soil removal, separation, containment, destruction. Once all goals are established, the team will consider technologies to meet them. For most home and commercial property types, multiple technologies are required to remediate an entire site. The amount of remediation processes used is based on varying requirements for contaminants that affect the site.

Information About Remediation Systems Our People Use

Pump and Treatment System

The dual bed system is a packaged system that consists of one clay/coal adsorber and two carbon adsorbers that can be configured in series or in parallel, depending upon the facility requirements. This is the most common system we use, as each unit can be customized to meet the flow requirements of the site.

In-Situ Soil Vapor Extraction

Soil vapor extraction (SVE) removes volatile organic compounds from a soil matrix. Air drawn through a soil matrix by a vacuum pump removes contaminated soil gas and induces additional volatile compounds to vaporize. Soil contaminants are drawn out with the exiting air and uncontaminated air is drawn in to repeat the process. The most common system is trailer-based which generates sufficient vacuum to influence a large area. For areas where storage space is a concern or access to the contamination is difficult (typically in basements), we also provide smaller vacuum systems.

Air Sparging

Air Sparging is an in-situ process in which air is bubbled through a contaminated aquifer to remove volatile contaminants. Injected air bubbles move vertically and horizontally in the soil creating an underground air stripping process that removes contaminants through volatilization. The most common air sparging process injects air into the groundwater through injection wells. Volatile compounds that are exposed to the sparged air convert to gas phase. Once in gas phase the volatiles either migrate to the ground surface or are captured via a soil vapor extraction system.

Chemical Oxidation

Chemical oxidation technology is based on the oxidative properties of specific chemicals. Through the process of oxidation, groundwater contaminants are ultimately broken down into carbon dioxide and water. To effectively degrade contaminants, the oxidant must come into contact with the contaminant molecules. Throughout the area to be treated, the delivery technique would ideally ensure that the oxidant is evenly dispersed. Chemical oxidation is a proven method of on-site contamination destruction and when used in conjunction with site excavation and water treatment systems it can accelerate site cleanup times.

Ozone Sparging

Ozone used in site remediation is similar to other chemical oxidation techniques. The use of ozone differs from most oxidation processes because you can deliver more continuous oxidation instead of batch applications. Ozone is extremely effective in treating many groundwater pollutants including total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH). When compared to other chemical oxidation methods, ozone can treat an area in a shorter amount of time and the storage and transportation of dangerous liquids is eliminated.

Bioremediation

Anaerobic bioremediation utilizes biological processes to break down or destroy contaminants. Enhanced anaerobic bioremediation aids in speeding up these processes and achieves a higher degree of chemical destruction. Bioremediation can be applied to achieve source reduction or plume-wide treatment, and it may be possible to complete the remedy in as little as 2 or 3 years. But for difficult sites (e.g., DNAPL source areas), it may be advantageous to combine enhanced anaerobic bioremediation with other remedial strategies or measures. The single largest difference between conventional remedial technologies and enhanced bioremediation may be that enhanced bioremediation, if properly implemented, can maintain effectiveness over a longer period of time at a lower overall cost.

Bioslurping

Bioslurping is used to remediate soils contaminated by petroleum hydrocarbons. It is a cost-effective in situ remedial technology that simultaneously accomplishes LNAPL removal and soil remediation in the vadose zone, by removing LNAPL, then drawing contaminated soil-gas vapor from the ground. Bioventing of vadose zone soils is achieved by drawing air into the soil due to withdrawing soil gas via the recovery well. The system is designed to minimize environmental discharge of ground water and soil gas. When free-product removal activities are completed, the bioslurping system is easily converted to a conventional bioventing system to complete the remediation.