SAFIRA Test Site Zeitz
The pilot facility in Zeitz is on the grounds of the former hydrogenation works.
The second SAFIRA pilot facility was put into operation in Zeitz in 2001. The core unit is a reactor room with two rows of reactors (each with 4 reactors), which can be operated in various ways. The facility is situated in an area downstream from a groundwater aquifer contaminated with benzene. Source of the contamination was a facility for benzene that was operated until 1990/91 in the immediate vicinity (leaky equipment, old pipe systems).
For implementation of the Enhanced Natural Attenuation approach to restoration of contaminated groundwater, substances or micro-organisms can be supplied to the aquifer with the aid of various dosage systems pre-connected to the reactor in a series; this is utilized in order to accelerate the natural disintegration process.
New reactor systems have been recently erected in the reactor room. These systems should make it possible to investigate more extensively the disintegration of pollutants in the context of various projects or doctoral-thesis work.
Moreover, the site serves, with its plethora of groundwater measuring stations and observation wells, as a teaching facility for the accomplishment of work-experiences regarding groundwater sampling or evaluation of radioactive tracer experiments. In the context of further projects (BEOQUE), other innovative restoration concepts are being tested on the experimental fields around the SAFIRA site.