Scientific Environmental Protection
KEPLER knows, develops and applies the latest techniques available to provide a service of the highest technical quality and efficiency thanks to our experience, pursuit of excellence and 360º vision.
Experience
Accredited for more than 30 years in more than 500 soil and water remediation projects.
Excellence
Through:
- Our interdisciplinary team, which is not limited to combining knowledge from different disciplines, but to their theoretical and practical understanding in order to achieve innovative solutions.
- Our R+D+i department and our biotechnological laboratory analyze in depth the degradation processes to achieve better results in time and cost.
- Our career plan and comprehensive training that allows us to have an experienced team that assesses all the circumstances and elements present in a contaminated site.
360º vision
That extends to all matrices (soil, water and air), techniques and stages of the process.
The field investigation is essential to determine the extent of contamination, the characteristics of the site and, therefore, the strategy to follow. For this purpose, KEPLER has a team of experts in Quantitative Risk Analysis and is also accredited by ENAC as a Type C Inspection Entity for the characterization of soil and groundwater according to ISO 17020. Learn more about our Inspection Entity:
Our consulting team advises on the selection of the Best Available Technique (BAT). In more complex cases, KEPLER develops its own pilot and feasibility tests with the assistance of our R&D Department.
Once a BAT has been selected, it is implemented. The assembly, commissioning and implementation of the solution are designed, case by case, by an interdisciplinary team of experts, in order to achieve maximum efficiency.
KEPLER periodically evaluates the status of each project through control and monitoring campaigns, making the necessary adjustments to ensure the correct evolution of the treatment and decontamination.
KEPLER advises its clients in the management of the closure of the file, keeping in contact with the competent authorities and other interested parties. KEPLER also manages the landscape restoration works of the site to ensure its delivery in the best conditions.
Adequate BAT
The selection of the appropriate BAT is essential to ensure the effectiveness, in time and cost, of a soil and water remediation project. Learn more about our methodology in the BAT Guide for soil decontamination that we developed, as technical advisors, together with the Junta de Andalucía.
At KEPLER, such selection is not automatic, but is made after the assessment of a broad set of factors, among which the most important are:
Contaminant
Physicochemical properties: volatility, density or biodegradability, among others.
Concentration: free or dissolved phase.
Groundwater location: saturated or unsaturated zone.
Location
Climatology.
Hydrogeology: lithology of the terrain, water table or hydraulic conductivity.
Safety: structural risk, risk of collapse or protected natural area.
In the last decade, there has been a significant development of new and innovative soil and water remediation techniques, which, however, have increased the complexity of assessing and selecting the appropriate BAT. Hence the importance of project experience with the different techniques to ensure the effectiveness of the treatment. Below is a list of some of our projects according to the BAT selected:
High vacuum
Active treatment for ex situ decontamination of aquifers affected by free phase of light contaminants.
Also known as multiphase extraction as it allows simultaneous extraction of liquid and gas phase.
The forced extraction of the vapors sucked from the vadose zone allows air to enter the interstitial pores in the contaminated zone, which can favor biodegradation.
Average Treatment Time
12 months (depending on the thickness of the starting phase)
Contaminant
Free-phase organic
Case Study
Elimination of a diesel/gasoline mixture after 9 months
Pump & Treat
Active treatment which consists of pumping contaminated water ex situ from the saturated subsurface zone to a treatment plant.
This plant includes a decantation and homogenization unit where the dense and floating hydrocarbon phases are separated.
The water is filtered with activated carbon before re-injection.
Average Treatment Time
12 months (depending on the starting concentration)
Contaminant
Organic in dissolved phase
Case Study
Thermal oil removal after 10 months of treatment with water extraction from piezometric network
In Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO)
Active treatment that consists of applying in situ compounds with high oxidation capacity to mineralize organic pollutants, transforming them into innocuous products.
The degradation pathway is: HC + Acceptor e- (oxidant) → CO₂ + H₂O.
Average Treatment Time
12 months (depending on the starting concentration)
Contaminant
Organic in dissolved phase
Case Study
Elimination of a mixture of diesel and gasoline after 9 months of treatment with quarterly injections of oxidant into the piezometric network.
In Situ Chemical Reduction (ISCR)
Active treatment that applies in situ compounds with high reducing capacity to transform organic pollutants into harmless end products.
The degradation pathway is: HC + Donor e- (reductant) → CH₄ + CO₂.
Average Treatment Time
20 months (depending on the starting concentration)
Contaminant
Dissolved-phase organics (mainly organochlorines)
Case Study
Degradation of perchloroethylene (PCE) to ethene after 15 months of treatment with a single injection of reducing reagents into the piezometric network
Monitored Natural Attenuation
Passive method that uses natural processes, such as biodegradation and dispersion, to reduce contaminants in soils and groundwater without human intervention.
Molecular biology techniques, such as massive sequencing analysis (DNA metabarcoding), are applied to verify the removal of contaminants naturally.
The degradation pathway is: HC + Acceptor e- + Nutrients + Microorganisms → CO₂ + H₂O + New biomass.
Average Monitoring Time
3 years (on a case-by-case basis)
Contaminant
Organic and inorganic in dissolved phase
Case Study
Demonstration of the existence of natural attenuation in an aquifer through a heuristic test that evaluates the physicochemical and microbiological response in groundwater.
Ex situ treatment of soils in biopiles
Active treatment that takes advantage of the capacity of microorganisms to eliminate contaminants from the soil without altering their properties.
It obtains innocuous final products in the degradation pathway.
The degradation pathway is: HC + Acceptor e- + Nutrients + Microorganisms → CO₂ + H₂O + New biomass.
Average Treatment Time
6 months (depending on the starting concentration)
Contaminant
Organic
Case Study
800 m³ of soil affected with thermal oil. Removal of 94.2% of hydrocarbons in 2 months and 99.5% in 5 months.
Off-site water treatment at the plant
Active treatment that uses microorganisms to remove pollutants from water without altering its properties, producing harmless substances.
It obtains harmless end products in the degradation pathway.
The degradation pathway is: HC + Acceptor e- + Nutrients + Microorganisms → CO₂ + H₂O + New biomass.
Average Hydraulic Residence Time
1 week (depending on starting concentration)
Contaminant
Organic in dissolved phase
Case Study
Patented treatment plant with fixed biomass moving bed reactor (MBBR). Removal of 99.96 % of thermal oil from groundwater.