Evonik Remedies Contaminated Groundwater

Evonik report that it is remediating groundwater contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at the Pioneer Park urban development site in Hanau. Once a military barracks, the area is undergoing transformation into a modern neighborhood set to house 5,000 residents. The project is utilizing Evonik’s product EHC® Reagent, environmental consulting from AECOM, and field technology from Sensatec to remediate two contaminated areas. On 16 May, the partners were awarded the bronze medal in the category “Especially Sustainable” at the Brownfield Award® 2024.

EHC® Reagent is specially formulated to degrade VOCs which are notoriously difficult to destroy. It combines controlled-release organic carbon with micronized zero valent iron (ZVI) to trigger chemical and microbiological degradation. From 2020 to 2023, Evonik worked together with field technology expert Sensatec to inject EHC® Reagent into the subsoil under high pressure. Monitoring in March 2024 demonstrated that this “in situ chemical reduction” (ISCR) is on track to degrade the VOCs down to levels significantly below permissible limits.

“The advantage of ISCR is that it saves costs, energy, and time compared with other remediation methods. There is no need to pump out the groundwater in order to treat it. ISCR is thus associated with significantly lower CO2 emissions than alternative measures.” said Mike Mueller, EMEA Business Manager for Soil & Groundwater Remediation at Evonik’s Active Oxygens business line.

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