PRIME: an innovative test laboratory for soil and water decontamination

In France, there are at least 9,000 polluted sites. Often, they are active or former industrial sites that have suffered various types of pollution, particularly hydrocarbons, chlorinated solvents and heavy metals. There are often several forms of pollution, and they are hard to treat. To understand and tackle this problem, BRGM launched the PRIME platform. which stands for Platforms for Remediation and Innovation at the service of environmental metrology. The aim is to offer these sites decontamination solutions to allow for new uses and the safe use of ground water. PRIME is a ground decontamination research platform managed by the BRGM, which was launched through the PIVOTS program funded by the Centre-Val-de-Loire region and the EU via the ERDF. The three objectives of PRIME are to quantify and identify pollutants in the environment, knowing what they are, how they behave and how they are transferred. The second objective is to predict how these pollutants change in our environment in the short and medium term. And the third objective is to offer solutions, tools and methods. to decontaminate these sites. PRIME is a multidisciplinary team of researchers, engineers and technicians using complementary experimental facilities that cover the entire spectrum of research in this field. At PRIME, we work on different scales, from centimetres - small columns, small batches - to metres, up to the Plurimetric Pilot. The advantage is we can test changes in various environmental parameters on a small scale to set them and then move up a scale. You can see how a change in scale impacts the process, with the aim of going up to the field scale. So, we wanted all these tools to be as adaptable as possible to different projects, different sites and different contaminants. They must help up develop several methods for remediating and decontaminating soil and groundwater. The large-scale tool used by the researchers is the Plurimetric Pilot. It is the only large-scale experimental tank in France. It simulates polluted soil under controlled conditions. Polluted soil, or a model material like sand, is added and the groundwater flow is simulated. The goal is to add various sensors and monitor the behaviour of the pollutant in the pilot and then develop decontamination techniques to remove these pollutants. The decontamination techniques put in place can be chemical or biological, that's the advantage of the pilots behind me, which use bacteria or even mushrooms to try to remove organic contaminants from the soil. The first concrete results in terms of decontamination are already got. The PRIME facilities can also be mobilized for external projects. The goal is also to create a digital twin, in other words, a digital model of the pilots that will offer researchers the possibility to simulate polluted sites while changing parameters. 

In France, there are at least 9,000 polluted sites. They are often decommissioned or active industrial sites that have been polluted, usually by hydrocarbons, chlorinated solvents or heavy metals. These pollutants are often complex to deal with. To understand and address the issue, BRGM created PRIME: the Platform for Remediation and Innovation Serving Environmental Metrology. The goal is to offer these sites decontamination solutions to allow their future use and the risk-free use of groundwater. PRIME is BRGM's soil decontamination research platform launched through the Pivots program, financed by the Centre-Val-de-Loire region and Europe via the ERDF. The first of its three objectives is to quantify and identify pollutants in the environment and how they behave and transfer. The second objective is to forecast the behavior of these pollutants in our environment in the short and medium terms. The third is to offer solutions, tools and methods to decontaminate these sites. PRIME is a multidisciplinary team of researchers, engineers and technicians who develop complementary experimental installations spanning the full spectrum of research in the field. PRIME works on several scales, ranging from the small-batch, centimetric scale to the Plurimetric Pilot. This allows small-scale testing with environmental parameter variations before making scaling up in order to see the impact on the process, targeting full-scale implementation on site. We wanted all these tools to be adaptable to different projects, different sites and different pollutants. They are designed to develop a range of methods for soil and groundwater decontamination. The large-scale tool available to researchers is the Plurimetric Pilot, a large experimental tank that's unique in France. It simulates polluted soil under controlled conditions. Polluted soil or a model material, such as sand, is introduced, and groundwater flow is simulated. The aim is to introduce sensors and track the behavior of the pollutant in the pilot and then develop decontamination techniques to eliminate that pollutant. Decontamination techniques can be either chemical or biological. The pilots behind me use bacteria or even mushrooms to purge the soil of organic contaminants. The first concrete results from decontamination are expected within a few months. PRIME equipment can also be mobilized for external projects. The aim is to also create a digital twin, or a digital model of pilots that will allow researchers to simulate polluted sites by varying the parameters.