Appeal No. 2000-1091 2
Application No. 08/874,167
THE INVENTION
The invention is directed to a process for removing contaminants from a low-
permeability soil. Two independent processes are combined to prevent dry out of soil.
The first is electro-osmosis. The second is joule or ohmic heating. Additional limitations
are described in the following illustrative claims.
THE CLAIMS
Claims 1 and 15 are illustrative of appellants’ invention and are reproduced below.
1. A process for removing contaminants from low-permeability soil, comprising:
combining electro-osmosis and joule heating to prevent dry out of soil adjacent to
joule heating electrodes.
15. A hybrid joule heating/electro-osmosis process for extracting water-soluble
contaminants and non-aqueous phase liquids from saturated, contaminated, low-
permeability soil formations, comprising:
providing partial desaturation of the formation using electro-osmosis to remove a
portion of the pore fluid of the formation by induction of a ground water flow to
extraction wells,
performing joule heating on a partially desaturated formation causing transfer or
partitioning of liquid state contaminants to the vapor phase and increasing the vapor
phase pressure in the formation such that the contaminant lade vapor phase is
forced out into soil of higher permeability where such can be captured.
THE REFERENCES OF RECORD
As evidence of obviousness, the examiner relies upon the following references:
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