SRI International Receives DOE Grant to Develop New Soil Remediation Technology

New Technique Offers Cost-Effective Solution for Soil Clean-up and Domestic Oil Production
 
Menlo Park, Calif. (August 30, 1999) -- Silicon Valley-based SRI International-a leading independent technology innovator-announced today that it has received a $320,000 grant from the Department of Energy to develop a more effective technology for the removal of hydrocarbons from contaminated soil. SRI's novel water-based approach promises to provide a method for more efficient extraction of contaminants.
 
High production costs, including the cost of oil recovery and remediation difficulties, have contributed to the continuous decline of U.S. crude oil production, which, in turn, has increased U.S. dependency upon foreign supplies. To lower production costs and maintain access to domestic resources, new technologies for remediation of soil and water are required. These innovations must be more economical and efficient, meet environmental regulations and gain public acceptance.
 
SRI will develop, under the guidance of senior chemist and lead researcher Indira S. Jayaweera, soil remediation technology that uses hot water to separate contaminated oil from the soil. By employing only water and inorganic salts (such as sodium carbonate), hydrothermal methods are proving to be environmentally friendly, efficient, economical and effective against a wide range of industrial contaminants
 
Current Remediation Processes Create Difficulties
 
Contamination of soil, air and ground water is inevitable during operations related to recovery, refining and transport of oil from domestic resources. This is primarily due to drilling operations where drilling fluid becomes contaminated in the reserve pit during or after completion of the well; production operations where oil, condensate or contaminated water are spilled or released into the ground; and pipeline breaks or leaks where crude oil or produced water are released into the soil
 
According to the Federal Energy and Technology Center (FETC), existing technologies do not offer adequate removal efficiencies for soil containing heavy organic material and require organic solvents that ultimately increase contamination and costs. Current soil remediation treatments that use organic solvents for removal of contaminants release toxic chemicals and volatile organic materials into the air and water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there are more than 217,000 contaminated sites from past governmental remediation activities. The estimated $187 billion cost for cleaning up these sites is expected to rise with inflation.
 
SRI Solves the Remediation Problem
 
Over the next several decades, federal, state and local governments, as well as private industry, will commit billions of dollars annually to clean up sites contaminated with hazardous waste and petroleum products. This commitment will result in a continuing demand for site remediation services and technologies. The ultimate goal of SRI's research and development is to successfully transfer the technology to industry for nationwide clean-up operations
 
Initial testing will be conducted at SRI using real world samples. The project will commence this September and is to be completed in fall 2001. SRI will retain rights to its proprietary technology and plans to license it to soil remediation companies.
 
Silicon Valley-based SRI International is one of the world's largest independent research, technology development and consulting organizations. Founded in 1946 as the Stanford Research Institute, SRI has been meeting the strategic needs of global markets for more than 50 years. As part of its strategy to bring its technologies to the marketplace, SRI licenses its technologies, forms strategic partnerships and creates spin-off companies. Visit SRI on the web at http://www.sri.com/.