Direct Fired Thermal Desorption

Using the process of Direct Fired Thermal Desorption or also commonly referred to as Low-Temperature Desorption, Nelson Environmental Remediation offers on-site extraction and destruction of toxic organic compounds to produce, as their slogan says – “Clean Dirt, No Doubt!”.

Direct Thermal Desorption

Low-Temperature Desorption removes organic contaminants from soil, sludge or sediment by heating them in a machine called a “thermal desorber” to evaporate the contaminants. The evaporation process volatilizes the organic contaminants in the soil into a vapour phase (gases) which in turn, separates them from the solid material. The process is not a form of incineration and is defined by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as “a physical separation process”. The volatilized vapours pass through a baghouse filtration system then into a thermal oxidizer and are oxidized into CO2 and water.

Contaminants include:

  • Hydrocarbons
  • Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
  • Semi-volatile Organic Compounds (SVOCs)
  • Pesticides & Herbicides
  • Coal Tar & Creosote

The end goal of direct fired thermal desorption is to remediate soil so that it meets applicable remediation criteria, and is thus available for beneficial re-use. Success requires the combined experience of the NELSON team perfected on numerous large scale projects across the