Flushing is a pollution treatment method that uses water or another liquid to remove contaminants from soil or sediment. This technique is often used to clean up sites contaminated by petroleum products or organic chemicals.
Flushing works by injecting water or another liquid into the contaminated soil or sediment through injection wells. The liquid is then pumped through the soil or sediment to dissolve the contaminants. The contaminated liquid is then pumped to the surface, where it can be treated before being released into the environment.
The advantages of flushing are that it is a rapid and relatively inexpensive method of removing contaminants from soils and sediments. Flushing can also be used to clean up sites contaminated by petroleum products or organic chemicals in high concentrations.
However, flushing can have its drawbacks. This method can create contaminated liquid effluents that need to be treated safely to avoid water pollution. In addition, this method may not be effective in completely removing contaminants from soils or sediments, particularly if the contaminants are strongly adsorbed to soil particles. Flushing can also have negative impacts on living organisms in the soil or water.
Flushing is a useful method for rapidly cleaning up sites contaminated by high concentrations of petroleum products or organic chemicals.
In the case of in-situ pollution, other treatment methods can be used, such as controlled natural attenuation, biodegradation, biosparging, thermal desorption, dual-phase extraction, chemical oxidation, pump-and-treat, pump-and-treat, chemical reduction, sparging or venting.