A thermal blanket is a device used in in-situ thermal desorption (ISTD) to clean large area soil contamination. The primary function of a thermal blanket is to heat the soil to the boiling point of the contaminants (usually 800 to 1,000°C). The contaminants break down. A vacuum pulls the resulting gas (along with some contaminants) into a separate air cleaner that may use various methods, such as carbon filters and high-heat ovens, to completely destroy the contaminants.
Deep contaminations are handled using a similar method with a deep penetrating heat source. This is commonly referred to as an ISTD thermal well.
Famous quotes containing the word blanket:
“Come, thick night,
And pall thee in the dunnest smoke of hell,
That my keen knife see not the wound it makes,
Nor heaven peep through the blanket of the dark
To cry, “Hold, hold!””
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)