The literature contains a number of books, articles, and federal documents on various remediation
techniques available for environmental restoration activities. However, a single document that is a
compilation of the majority of methods utilized by United States federal agencies and the private
sector for environmental remediation is not known to exist. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is
to provide a comprehensive overview of the techniques and methods available for environmental
remediation. It is not intended to provide in-depth detail for any one technique, but rather to serve
as initial guidance for remedy selection alternatives and to act as a catalyst in option-specific
literature searches. Because of their concise nature in the original form, some of the passages
contained herein were taken from the primary works and have been appropriately referenced.
While the author has attempted to construct a comprehensive manuscript, it is not intended to be
viewed as all inclusive.
Treatment methods are divided into those for soil remediation and for surface and groundwater
remediation. Further categorization results in the consideration of biological, chemical, and physical
treatment techniques, with methods alphabetized within categories. Eighteen methods are reviewed
that pertain to the remediation of soils (Table 1). Data on the treatment of ground and surface water
is less voluminous; this paper reviews seven techniques for remediation of environmental waters
(Table 2). The majority of techniques are categorized as physical treatments with only one process,
biodegradation, falling under the biological treatment category. Chemical treatments involve the
application of agents to promote extraction of the hazardous substance, and physical treatments
involve removal of the hazard through physical means. The relative benefit of the various
remediation methods has dependence in large-scale applicability as well as overall cost. Techniques
such as in-situ vitrification can be applied only to finite areas in each application, however, because
of the associated expense, multiple applications in different areas of the same waste site increase the
method's cost-effectiveness. Figures 1 and 2 provide a summary of the degree of effectiveness,
cost, technological development, and lasting effect for each soil and water remediation method,
respectively.
Many of the remediation techniques summarized in this paper are still in the investigational stages
and have been applied only in the laboratory or on a small scale. Techniques successful in the field
are noted by inclusion of examples of large-scale application. The omission of such examples
indicates the small- or bench-scale status of current work. Some techniques may be applicable only
under certain environmental conditions; this relevance is explicitly stated for those methods. No
information was found regarding post-treatment, site-specific ecological problems.