Dioxin Remediation in Danang

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) recently announced that it has contracted with TerraTherm, Inc. (USA) to carry out thermal remediation of dioxin at Vietnam's Danang Airport. TerraTherm's remediation technology plays a vital role in the U.S.-funded project's efforts to clean up dioxin contamination in areas of Danang airport where herbicides were stored and handled during the U.S.-Vietnam War. USAID is working in close coordination with the Government of Vietnam (GVN) and other contractors to implement this ongoing project through 2016. The contract value of USAID's award to TerraTherm is $36.8 million.

USAID selected TerraTherm's In-Pile Thermal Desorption (IPTD) technology for treatment of approximately 73,000 cubic meters (95,000 cubic yards) of soil and sediment at Danang Airport. The IPTD approach incorporates placing contaminated soil and sediment within an above-ground, covered and fully insulated treatment pile structure, and then heating each batch of soil over several months to destroy the dioxin. Once implemented, the technology can safely and effectively treat the soil to the required Vietnamese cleanup levels, as has been demonstrated at similarly-sized projects in the United States. TerraTherm is working with Krüger/VWS-VN to implement the project.