Kelly Air Force Base • San Antonio Air Logistics Center =
Installation Restoration Program
FACT SHEET
Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Program
Office of Public Affairs, 807 Buckner, Kelly AFB, TX 78241-5842	(210)925-7951 AV 945-7951
Air Force and EPA Join Forces to Clean Up Contaminated Soil
Introduction
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) identifies new methods for hazardous waste
cleanup through its Superfund Innovative Technol-
ogy Evaluation (SITE) Program. Created in 1986,
this program demonstrates and evaluates innovative
treatment technologies that may significantly reduce
the toxicity, mobility, or volume of hazardous waste.
The SITE Program also generates reliable perfor-
mance and cost information on the technologies for
use in evaluating cleanup alternatives for similarly
contaminated sites.
The Air Force, through its Installation Restora-
tion Program (IRP), is seeking effective and afford-
able systems for cleaning up past storage, use, and
disposal sites. Cooperation between the Air Force
and EPA allows government resources to be shared
in technology evaluations that prevent duplication or
excess cost while providing important information
about environmental cleanup choices.
The technology being demonstrated at Kelly Air
Force Base (Kelly AFB) IRP Site S-1 is the KAI Tech-
nologies, Inc. radio frequency heating (RFH) process.
The purpose of the demonstration is to determine
how effectively the KAI technology removes volatile,
semivolatile, and nonvolatile organic compounds
from contaminated soil at the test site. The technol-
ogy demonstration is being carried out under a con-
tract between the U.S. Air Force and Brown & Root
Environmental of Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
The Air Force/EPA SITE Team
The Air Force is constantly alert to new scien-
tific and technical concepts that offer faster, safer,
more effective, or less costly methods for environ-
mental cleanup. EPA's SITE Program is a major
source of information and a partner in testing new
technologies at Air Force bases. Each year, EPA
solicits proposals from technology developers to
demonstrate innovative technologies under the SITE
Program. EPA selects technologies for evaluation
and often obtains input from the Air Force, state agen-
cies, or regional agencies. For each selected tech-
nology, EPA does the following:
•	Identifies a site with wastes suitable for
treatment by the selected technology
•	Prepares a technology demonstration plan
•	Notifies appropriate agencies for inter-
governmental and community reviews
•	Prepares a fact sheet for the public,
describing the site and technology
combination
•	Prepares the demonstration site
•	Conducts and audits field sampling and
laboratory analyses
•	Organizes a visitors' day to allow
interested parties to view the technology
demonstration
•	Evaluates the technology's performance
•	Prepares an Innovative Technology
Evaluation Report summarizing demonstra-
tion results
•	Prepares informational items such as
technology bulletins, summaries, and a
videocassette program
Cooperating with the EPA, the U.S. Air Force
identifies sites and provides a major share of the
necessary resources for conducting innovative tech-
nology evaluations on sites at various Air Force
bases. Most of the actual field work for this particu-
lar program will be the responsibility of the Air Force
or a civilian contractor working on behalf of the Air
Force. EPA will validate sampling, handle much of
the data compiled during the test, and prepare the
necessary reports and publications when the evalu-
ation is complete.

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Technology Description
The KAI RFH system is a thermal treatment
process that uses electromagnetic energy in the ra-
dio frequency (RF) band to volatilize contaminants
and separate them from soil and sludge matrices.
The process is designed to heat the soil by molecu-
lar agitation, just as a microwave oven heats food.
Thus, RFH creates heat in the soil itself; whereas
existing systems use thermal conduction (direct ap-
plication of heat from an external source) to heat the
soil.
The primary components of the KAI RFH sys-
tem are the RF generator and the RF heating appli-
cators (antennae). The generator supplies power
through flexible coaxial transmission lines to one or
more antennae, which radiate the energy to the soil.
This results in progressive heating of the soil in a
radial direction from each antenna.
Once the RF energy has heated the soil, va-
porized contaminants are collected through extrac-
tion wells similar to those used in soil vapor extrac-
tion systems. A vacuum system transfers the va-
pors to a vapor treatment system. The treatment
zone is covered with a vapor barrier, which has three
functions: to help maintain a vacuum for vapor col-
lection, to prevent fugitive emissions from the heated
surface, and to control infiltration of air into the treated
zone and thus into the vapor treatment system. As
an additional precaution, vapor collection lines are
installed under the vapor barrier to collect any va-
pors that reach the soil surface. During the demon-
stration, the vapor collection and vapor treatment
systems will be operated for 5 days before the power
source is turned on and for 2 weeks after the power
source is turned off, while the temperature of the
treatment zone is decreasing.
Thermocouples are placed throughout the treat-
ment zone and surrounding area to allow operators
to monitor the spatial temperature distribution in the
heated soil. These temperature data are used to
assess the operation of the RF power source and to
determine when the test termination criteria have
been met.
The overall configuration of the KAI RFH sys-
tem that will be used for the demonstration is shown
in Figure 1. The treatment zone will be 15 feet long,
10 feet wide, and 20 feet deep.
E1
TD1 &TD2 O
T03O
E2&T1 #
E3
l"~l = electric field measurement well
A = antenna
Q = pressure transducer
^ = extraction well
• = therm owell
Q = thermowell &
pressure transducer
l»	
F1
~
•
B
	1
m 036
I 1 1
scale in feet
20 ft. ,
- S\ ^1
A1 A
A

F3
~
E5
•
A*2
« it *1
000
TD6&T3 TD5&T2 TD4
i
II	
F4
~
—m—
F5
~
	1
E6
E7
E8
TD7&TD8 Q
Figure 1. KAI RFH Demonstration System Configuration

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Site History
Kelly AFB is located 7 miles southwest of down-
town San Antonio, Texas. A map of Kelly AFB, in-
cluding Site S-1, is shown in Figure 2. From the early
1960s until 1973, IRP Site S-1 was used for tempo-
rary storage of waste oils and industrial solvents prior
to off-base disposal. Spills and leaks are believed
to have occurred during the course of normal opera-
tions. Contaminants, primarily petroleum products,
carbon cleaning compounds, and industrial solvents,
flowed to a nearby depression. Both soil and shal-
low underground water at the site contain contami-
nants. The RFH demonstration will concentrate on
the southern portion of the depression.
The site has a radius of approximately 150 feet.
The concentration of benzene, toluene,
ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) is less than 10
parts per million (ppm) in the soil and shallow ground-
water. The concentration of total petroleum hydro-
carbons is less than 17,000 ppm in the soil. The
shallow groundwater is located approximately 25 to
30 feet below the surface and is not used for drink-
ing or any other domestic purpose. More than 1,000
feet of dense clay and rock form an impermeable
barrier between the shallow groundwater and the
local water supply in the deep Edwards Aquifer.
Initial investigations of the site were carried out
between 1981 and 1988. A formal Remedial Investi-
gation, following the requirements of the Compre-
hensive Environmental Response, Compensation
and Liability Act (CERCLA), began in 1989 and is
near completion. A feasibility study to determine
cleanup alternatives for the site is expected to com-
pare the RF heating process to more traditional
cleanup technologies for sites of this type.
Technology Demonstration
The KAI RFH demonstration at Site S-1 is
scheduled to take place during March and April. The
demonstration will identify the effectiveness of the
process; the potential need for pre- and post-treat-
ment processing of raw and treated materials; po-
tential site-specific system operating problems and
their possible solutions; and approximate capital,
operating, and maintenance costs including projected
long-term operating and maintenance costs.
Specific chemical constituents and total petro-
leum hydrocarbons will be monitored to evaluate the
performance of the RFH process. Soil samples will
be collected before and after treatment to determine
the technology's effectiveness. The effectiveness of
the vapor treatment system will also be monitored.
The Air Force, cooperating with EPA, has pre-
pared a detailed demonstration plan outlining meth-
ods and procedures for testing and evaluating the
technology. When the demonstration is complete,
EPA will compile and analyze the findings in an In-
novative Technology Evaluation Report. This report
will be used to evaluate alternatives for cleaning up
similar sites across the country.

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