decontaminate with soy milk.
Thanks to recent developments, contaminated soil and groundwater can now be effectively treated on site. Reactive barriers offer an innovative approach to the decontamination of groundwater since they rely on a range of physical, chemical, and biological processes to stimulate the breakdown of groundwater contaminants. Golder Associés Ltée has eloquently demonstrated this: the firm, which has offices in Montréal, was mandated to test rehabilitation technology. This project presented complex technological challenges, namely due to the geological characteristics of the site being tested. The conventional solution to this type of problem usually consists of pumping out the contaminated water and channelling it to a purification facility. Instead, the engineers installed a reactive barrier in the soil, made up of shafts into which they injected iron powder suspended in a liquid mixture consisting of, among other things, soy milk and food additives. As the water makes its way through the underground shafts, a physiochemical and biological destruction of the contaminants ensues. The treatment was shown to be effective throughout the length of the barrier, and has allowed the standard of five parts of solvents per billion to be respected. A true success!