Subsurface investigation and injection method that hydraulically advances small-diameter tooling into the ground without drilling and without generating drill cuttings. Used for soil and groundwater sampling, geophysical logging (CPT, MIP), and direct-push injection of treatment reagents.
Direct Push Technology uses hydraulic rams (and often percussion) on a track-mounted rig (Geoprobe is the leading manufacturer) to advance rods, sample tubes, and probes into the subsurface to depths typically up to 50 metres in suitable formations. It generates no drill cuttings, requires minimal setup, and is markedly faster and cheaper than hollow-stem auger or sonic drilling for routine site investigation work.
Beyond sampling, direct push delivers in-situ measurement tools including cone penetration testing (CPT) for stratigraphy, the Membrane Interface Probe (MIP) for VOC profiling, the Hydraulic Profiling Tool (HPT) for permeability, and the Optical Image Profiler (OIP) for NAPL detection. Direct-push injection wells and points are widely used for ISCO, ISCR, biostimulation, and bioaugmentation reagent delivery.
Also known as: direct push, DPT, Geoprobe.
In-Situ Chemical Oxidation (ISCO): treatment approach
In-situ chemical oxidation: injection of a chemical oxidant — permanganate, persulfate, or Fenton's reagent — directly into contaminated soil or groundwater to destroy dissolved-phase organic contaminants without excavation.
The regulatory metric for thermal destruction performance, expressed as the percentage of a target contaminant destroyed across the system. Common permit thresholds range from 99.99 percent for general hazardous organics to 99.9999 percent (six nines) for PCBs, dioxins, and PFAS.
The duration that gas, vapor, or solids remain inside the heated zone of a thermal treatment unit; together with temperature and turbulence, one of the three governing parameters of complete contaminant destruction.
Liquid that has percolated through contaminated soil, waste, or stockpiles, dissolving and carrying contaminants downward to groundwater or to a collection system. The principal migration pathway for PFAS, dissolved metals, salts, and hydrocarbons from impacted sites.
Laboratory method that oxidizes PFAS precursors in a sample into measurable perfluoroalkyl acids, then quantifies the difference against a pre-oxidation baseline. Reveals the hidden precursor mass that targeted PFAS analysis alone misses.