US 2026/0287552 A1Published application

System and Method for the Rapid Determination of Clean Fill Materials Associated With Excess Excavated Materials

AssigneeThunderbird Environmental, LLC

InventorDarby Wayne Hittle

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Abstract

A method for the determination of whether excess excavated material can be considered to be clean fill includes the steps of: receiving a load of soil removed from a location and taking a representative sample thereof, performing a location-based analysis of the soil based at least in part on the location from which the soil was removed, performing a series of physical observations of the soil, performing field screening tests on the representative sample of the soil, and making an initial determination that the soil is clean fill if results of the location-based analysis, results of the series of physical observations and results of the field screening tests are all indicative of no contamination. The load of soil is then combined with other loads of soil, their representative samples are combined, and further laboratory analysis is performed, as appropriate to arrive at a final clean fill determination.

Claims22

Dependent claims

A method for the determination of whether excess excavated material can be considered to comprise clean fill, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a load of soil removed from a location and taking a representative sample thereof;
(b) performing a location-based analysis of the soil based at least in part on the location from which the soil was removed;
(c) performing a series of physical observations of the soil;
(d) performing field screening tests on the representative sample of the soil;
(e) making an initial determination that the soil comprises clean fill if results of the location-based analysis, results of the series of physical observations and results of the field screening tests are all indicative of no contamination;
and
(f) if the initial determination is that the soil comprises clean fill, then:
(i) combining the load of soil with other loads of soil that have also been initially determined to be clean fill to define a composite load;
(ii) combining the representative samples of all loads of soil that have been combined to define a composite sample;
(iii) subjecting the composite sample to laboratory analysis;
and
(iv) making a final determination that all of the loads of soil defining the composite load comprise clean fill if results of the laboratory analysis fall within acceptable parameters.

9 more elements

A method for the determination of whether excess excavated material can be considered to comprise clean fill, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a load of soil removed from a location and taking a representative sample thereof;
(b) performing a location-based analysis of the soil based at least in part on the location from which the soil was removed by comparing the location from which the soil was removed to at least one public environmental record of known or potentially contaminated sites and by determining whether there have been any in-field observations indicative of a potential release at the location;
(c) performing a series of physical observations of the soil, wherein the series of physical observations comprise at least one of visual observations and olfactory observations;
(d) employing a photoionization detector to perform field screening tests on the representative sample of the soil;
(e) making an initial determination that the soil comprises clean fill if results of the location-based analysis, results of the series of physical observations and results of the field screening tests are all indicative of no contamination;
and
(f) if the initial determination is that the soil comprises clean fill, then:
(i) combining the load of soil with other loads of soil that have also been initially determined to be clean fill to define a composite load;
(ii) combining the representative samples of all loads of soil that have been combined to define a composite sample;
(iii) subjecting the composite sample to laboratory analysis;
and
(iv) making a final determination that all of the loads of soil defining the composite load comprise clean fill if results of the laboratory analysis fall within acceptable parameters.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.