With extensive experience leading public and private companies, Louis Paolino Jr. has helmed those in areas ranging from waste services to soil remediation. In the latter sphere, Louis Paolino Jr. guided a Philadelphia firm that in the early 1990s secured one of the nation’s initial permits for the burning of contaminated soil as a way of cleaning and remediating it.
Today, there are several techniques of soil remediation, or soil washing, in play as a way of removing pesticides, heavy metals, creosote, and hydrocarbons from the ground. The bioremediation pathway makes use of anaerobic and aerobic bacteria species in breaking down pollutants such as petroleum and other fossil fuels. Unfortunately, the application is typically limited to areas in which a temperate climate is present and moisture provided by at least sporadic rain. With colder climates, soil must be covered and/or insulated, with the clean-up duration lengthening.
Another approach is thermal soil remediation, which involves the heating up of contaminated material to a temperature range of 650-900 degrees Fahrenheit. When water and hydrocarbon impurities have evaporated, the material is discharged to a unit which utilizes water for dust control and cooling purposes.
A third approach, air sparging, involves the injection of air at large volumes into a specific soil stratum, which in turn pushes organic vapors in a targeted direction for carbon filtering.
