Case Study: Piston Pumping Solutions - DNAPL Recovery

Thick, viscous, oily, and sticky coal tar tops the list in the field of contaminated site remediation and source recovery when it comes to being the ugliest and most stubborn substance to clean up in quantity. Due to the difficult nature of coal tar, initial recovery efforts at the 30-acre Calhoun Park Area Superfund Site in the historic harbor district in Charleston, SC, which began in 1998, were skimpy and sporadic until March 2001, when a Blackhawk Electric Piston Pump was brought in to do the job. This pump worked so well at removing coal tar, three additional Blackhawk Electric and Pneumatic Piston Pumps were put to work. Where once only a few gallons of gunk could be collected or skimmed away, more than 11,000 gallons of coal tar have been pumped out from the substrate at depths to 32 ft. below grade.