Optimization of technology selection for soil remediation
Abstract
Environmental contamination has reached crisis levels in the U.S. and other parts of the world. Remediation of the soil, water and air are topics of great concern. Soil remediation planning has previously been based on a set of samples without regard for their spatial relationship. Furthermore, little attention is paid to cost as a remediation technology selection parameter. To address these shortcomings a methodology has been developed using geostatistics to break the site into discrete sectors followed by optimization of the technology selection. Dynamic programming is used as the optimization method, and cost is the criteria to be minimized. Detailed development of this methodology is given, along with an illustration of its application to a hypothetical site. The model, SORTS (SOil Remediation Technology Selection), allows the decision maker to run sensitivity studies and to determine whether the level of uncertainty in the cost estimates is significant to the decision making process.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Halpin, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Civil engineering|Environmental science
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