Services

HGS’ tools and consulting services are developed and implemented in the context of the following philosophical framework:

A successful design involving a reactive-transport process involves a sequence of the following steps: conceptualization, characterization, numerical modeling for prediction and/or analysis, and monitoring of the process performance. Validation may require feedback loops through these steps to arrive to an optimal design.

HGS’ personnel expertise together with the numerical, laboratory and field tools allows us to support our clients with design, troubleshooting and closure of solution mining and groundwater remediation projects. The tools developed to date include:

Lab procedures for characterization of physical and hydraulic (hydrodynamic) properties of porous material. Our testing methods provide the most complete characterization of porous materials in the context of multi-phase flow such as those related to solution mining, environmental remediation, and the oil and gas industries.

Numerical models to accurately represent flow and reactive transport on porous media. Our numerical tools are able to simulate variably saturated or two-phase flow in one- two- and three-dimensions. Reactive transport is simulated via an advection-reaction-dispersion approach which includes the mobile-immobile porosity concept and multi-process non-equilibrium reactions.

A monitoring system based on multipurpose electrodes capable of measuring temperature (T), oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), and electric conductivity (EC) in three-dimensions and real-time. Deployment of TORPEC electrode-arrays to date has allowed us to map solution-, temperature- and reaction-fronts in the context of environmental remediation activities, design of solution injection systems and solution mining (in situ and heap leaching) at the laboratory and industrial scale.

These tools have allowed HGS to provide specialized consulting to the mining industry in the area of heap leach design, troubleshooting, and closure.