Pneumatic fracturing is a method that has become very popular in the last ten years used to remediate

contaminated site In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

s. The method consists of injecting gas into a contaminated subsurface at a pressure higher than that of the gases that are present. By doing this fractures "spider-web" throughout the subsurface so that pumps may be placed in the ground to suck out the

contaminated water Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. Water ...

through these cracks. Substrates may also be injected into the

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...

through the cracks to further the remediation of the soil and

ground water Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated ...

. The clean-up technique was developed and patented through the research of various professors at the

New Jersey Institute of Technology {{Infobox university , name = {{nowrap, New Jersey Institute of Technology , image = New Jersey IT seal.svg , image_upright = 0.9 , former_names = Newark College of Engineering (1930–1975)Ne ...

in 1996 with hopes of cleaning up various

United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

(EPA)

Superfund Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the United States Environmental Pro ...

sites which are some of the most heavily contaminated sites in the country. The patent is held by John R. Schuring, PhD and PE, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the

, developed in conjunction with Thomas M. Boland, Trevor C. King, Sean T. McGonigal, David S. Kosson, Conan D. Fitzgerald, and Sankar Venkatraman. This method has been adopted by environmental contractors all over the country since it has been patented.

References

{{Reflist Pollution Soil contamination