Society Awards and Honors
2009 Awards
PNNL team wins award from Eastern Washington Chapter of the Academy of Certified Hazardous Materials Management
The Eastern Washington Chapter of the Academy of Certified Hazardous Materials Management recognized PNNL's Mike Truex, Vince Vermuel, Mart Oostrom, Rob Mackley, Donny Mendoza, and Brad Fritz with the 2009 award for Hazardous Material Identification and Control Research for their development of Iron Particle Catalysis to Dechlorinate TCE at Ft. Lewis, WA.
The team worked with industrial partners to develop a method to inject 2-micron-diameter iron particles into an aquifer at Fort Lewis, Washington, contaminated with trichloroethene (TCE). When the test zone temperature was increased, using electrical resistance heating (also previously developed by PNNL), TCE dechlorination dramatically increased. The TCE was destroyed quickly enough to prevent vapor-phase TCE from escaping before being treated. The combined heating and chemical reaction treatment technique is expected to cost less than other approaches to contaminant source remediation. (announced 12/1/2009)