Pollution treatment by venting (or "aeration") is a technique for removing volatile pollutants from water or soil using ambient air, often used to remove volatile organic pollutants (VOCs) such as benzene, toluene and trichloroethylene (TCE). This technique is often used to remove volatile organic pollutants (VOPs) such as benzene, toluene and trichloroethylene (TCE).
The venting process involves installing a ventilation system to extract vapors from contaminated soil or groundwater. Ambient air is drawn in by a pump and directed through the contaminated soil or groundwater, agitating the volatile pollutants to release them into the air. The contaminated vapours are then removed from the site via a chimney or air filtration system.
Venting is often used in combination with other soil treatment techniques, such as the use of pollutant-degrading bacteria, to increase treatment efficiency.
The advantages of venting are its simplicity and relatively low cost compared with other soil treatment methods. What's more, the technique can be used to treat large areas of contamination.
For in-situ or off-site remediation, other treatment methods can be used, such as controlled natural attenuation,biodegradation, biosparging, thermal desorption, dual-phase extraction, flushing, chemical oxidation, pump and skim, pump and treat, chemical reduction or sparging.