In-Situ TCE Oxidation Using Potassium Permanganate in the Columnar-Jointed Preakness Basalt of New Jersey

Approximately five thousand (5,000) pounds of potassium permanganate (KMnO4) were injected into the Preakness Basalt as part of an In-Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO) pilot test at a large Research and Development facility in New Jersey (the "Site"). The objective of the pilot test was to determine if the ISCO technology was capable of remediating the source of a trichloroethene (TCE) plume in the Preakness Basalt, a fractured crystalline rock. The TCE source area exhibited concentrations in groundwater ranging from 10 milligrams per liter (approaching approximately 1 percent of the solubility of TCE in water) to about 500 millligrams per liter... Although some TCE in the source area was displaced as a result of the hydro-fracturing required to facilitate oxidant injection, results of the pilot testing demonstrate that the KMnO4 was successful in oxidizing TCE in the Preakness Basalt, thus eliminating a significant portion of the TCE plume source.