Brantford Greenwich Mohawk Brownfield

Accuworx has been contracted to conduct a really exciting environmental remediation project.  

The Brantford Greenwich Mohawk brownfield test pilot has been receiving international attention for the unique Dutch based remediation solution being performed at the site by Accuworx.

 

Occupying the 24 hectare piece of land from the early 1900’s to into the mid 1980’s was the Verity Plow Company (later Massey-Harris), Adams Wagon Company (later Trailmobile), Sternson Chemical and the Cockshutt Plow Company (later WhiteFarm Equipment).  By the mid-1980’s between the Cockshutt Plow Company and Massey Harris these two industries employed over 7,000 people but by 1988 both the Cockshutt Plow Company and Massey Harris facilities had closed their doors

For 25 years the City of Brantford has sought for solutions to bring this idle property back on line for reuse. Numerous subsurface investigations over the past 15 years have been completed at theGreenwich Mohawk site for the purpose of gaining an understanding of the extent of the environmental impacts at the site and to calculate a feasible cost to remediate the impacted soil and groundwater.

 

In late 2012 the City of Brantford began its final chapter in redeveloping the underutilized, vacant lands of the Greenwich Mohawk site by proceeding with the demolition of the former Massey Harris buildings and completing a steam enhanced extraction pilot test to determine the feasibility and cost effectiveness of this innovative sustainable remedial technology as an effective means of cleaning up the environmental impact legacy left behind all those decades ago.

 

In 2012, Accuworx and Groundwater Technology BV (GTBV) of Rotterdam, The Netherlands were awarded grant monies from the Dutch Government, Federation of Canadian Municipalities and the City of Brantford to complete a Pilot Test at the former Massey Harris site located at 347 Greenwich Street in Brantford, Ontario.  The pilot test under a mobile Environmental Compliance Approval from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment will be conducted on an area measuring approximately 300 m² and an approximate volume of 1,200 m³ of soil and groundwater impacted with Petroleum Hydrocarbons (PHCs) F2 to F3 PHC Fractionation consisting of diesel fuel and cutting oil.

 

Steam Enhanced Extraction (SEE) is an in-situ thermal remediation process that involves the delivery and application of steam to the subsurface in order to heat the subsurface soils and groundwater to an elevated predetermined temperature.  For the pilot test the subsurface temperature will be elevated from a normal background temperature of 10 to 12°C to between 75 and 100°C. By elevating the temperature within the subsurface the physical and chemical characteristic of both the soils, groundwater and contaminants are changed to a more favourable state where they can be extracted from the ground.  The heat produced from the steam promotes the following physical and chemical changes.  Contaminants of concern when heated will have a decreased density, an increase in their vapour pressure, a decrease in adsorption to the organic matter contained within the soil as well as an increase in the molecular diffusion in the aqueous and gaseous phases.