Environmental remediation is the process of environmental cleanup that restores a polluted or contaminated site to a state that is not harmful for human beings and other living organisms. In most cases, it involves media such as soil, groundwater, sediment, or surface water. Before deciding on the technology, a complete environmental assessment of the contaminated site has to be done to decide the approach towards the restoration.

Remediation technologies

Remediation solutions that are adopted for an environmental cleanup can be broadly categorized into ex-situ and in-situ methods. While the affected soils are excavated and the surface then treated using ex-situ methods, the contamination is treated without removing the soils by means of in-situ methods.

Excavation or dredging – In this process, the contaminated soil is dug up and transported to regulated dump sites. But, if the bottom of a river or bay gets contaminated, dredging is employed for environmental remediation.

Surfactant Enhanced Aquifer Remediation (SEAR) – Special surfactants or hydrocarbon mitigation agents are injected into the subsurface to reduce desorption, which in turn speeds up the recovery process.

Pump and treat – The contaminated groundwater is pumped out and then treated for contamination through a series of vessels.

Solidification and stabilization – In stabilization, different kinds of reagents are added to the contaminated material to make it more stable chemically whereas, in solidification, the reagents are added to make it physically or dimensionally stable and limit the access to external agents like rain and air.

In-situ oxidation – This method involves injection of strong oxidants into contaminated soil and groundwater resources for environmental remediation.

In-situ vitrification – Contaminants and the surrounding soil are melted here using electricity and then cooled to form glass.

Bioremediation – It is defined as the process that uses microorganisms or their enzymes to return the environment polluted by contaminants to its original condition. It is an eco-friendly approach towards remediation and uses products such as Oil Gone Easy Marine S-200 while dealing with oil spill cleanups.