AirBurst Resources

CASE STUDY: Boosting Well Efficiency 191%

AirBurst Experts — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 17:08:42 GMT

The Challenge

A major thermal power plant near Joliet, Illinois, relies on a deep sandstone well for its essential cooling operations. The well primarily tapped the Ironton-Galesville sandstone formation, the well’s performance had severely degraded over time due to its location in a desaturation zone and buildup of hard mineral scale throughout the entire sandstone zone. The specific capacity struggling at just 1.1 gallons per minute per foot of drawdown, with a pumping rate that had to be throttled back The situation was so severe that a pre-rehabilitation pump test had to be halted after less than one hour due to insufficient net positive suction head. This is where the pumping water level falls too close to the pump setting, and the pump loses suction. The pump could only function by throttling back to a fraction of its original designed capacity. To avoid the operational risk of shutting down a generating unit, plants often need to switch to alternate water sources. This can be expensive not only due to the direct cost of purchasing the water but also because rapid changes in water quality can shock the cooling tower system, leading to a dramatic spike in chemical treatment costs or harming the cooling equipment. A robust and immediate solution was needed.

The AirBurst Solution

The client selected Todd Kerry’s team at Water Well Solutions over several other contractors due to their reputation and unique access to AirBurst capabilities. Todd’s team were confident that AirBurst would be effective because a sister well on the site was still performing at a high level, indicating that this was a problem with the well and not the aquifer broadly. The team designed an AirBurst prescription to break up the mineral encrustation and blockages deep within the sandstone formation that were preventing water from flowing freely into the well.

The team utilized a 1500C model AirBurst gun with a 120-cubic inch chamber, deploying it throughout the well's water-producing zones over two passes. Firing at a rate of four shots per foot, each with 3,000 PSI of compressed air, the resulting energy waves traveled deep into the rock formation and cleared the pathways for water to enter the wellbore. Collectively, the energy released is the equivalent of approximately 198 pounds of TNT, but delivered with safety and precision rather than uncontrolled force.

The Results: +191% Gain in Specific Capacity

After the AirBurst rehabilitation, the hydraulic connection between the well and the aquifer was successfully re-established, restoring the well to a specific capacity even better than the well’s original reading after commissioning 52 years prior. Other key performance metrics were equally impressive.

Conclusion

This project demonstrates the exceptional capability of the AirBurst process to restore performance in high-capacity, deep wells by addressing the root cause of performance declines.

This success was not an isolated event. Water Well Solutions and AirBurst have a long history of rehabilitating and maintaining critical groundwater assets for heavy industrial clients throughout the greater Chicago area. Earlier, the team faced a near-identical situation where a key well supplying a 1,845-megawatt nuclear power site was near failure. The 22” diameter, deep sandstone well was in such poor condition that the pump would break suction from excessive drawdown immediately upon startup, rendering it useless. After AirBurst, the well was restored to a stable pumping rate of 369 GPM with a specific capacity of 3.03. Todd Kerry added:

Although AirBurst never recommends allowing a well to degrade to this extent prior to performing a rehab, these projects underscore the reliability and effectiveness of the AirBurst method for the region's most critical water supply wells.

For more information on how AirBurst can develop and restore wells across various geologies and well constructions, contact us at www.airbursttechnology.com. To reach the top municipal and industrial well and pump experts in Wisconsin and Illinois, visit Water Well Solutions at https://wwssg.com.

CASE STUDY: Well Casing Extraction

AirBurst Experts — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 17:07:09 GMT

Executive Summary

In 2025, a municipal customer of Water Well Solutions (WWS), a licensed AirBurst partner, sought options to complete abandonment of a drinking water well. Per the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) regulations, the well owner and contractor must attempt to remove the casings completely before trying methods such as perforating and grouting. When all other methods were exhausted to try to remove or perforate the casings, WWS turned to AirBurst "AirXtraction" to enable the casing extraction, allowing WWS to complete the abandonment per DNR code.

The WWS team quickly brainstormed additional options. They did not have timely access to any perforating methods that could penetrate the 0.5” thick

Schedule 80 steel casing, and explosives were not permitted on this site. The team would have to try additional methods to extract the casing. The team then improvised a way to significantly multiply the amount of lifting force they could bring to bear by

employing two external jacks to use in concert with the rig. However, even with a combined 240k pounds of lift capacity, the casing would not budge.

The Solution: Set the right conditions with AirBurst

With the word “no” not part of their vocabulary, the WWS team called in some air support. AirBurst Well Services Chief of Operations, Mike Yakich, proposed hitting the casing with a limited set of 2,000 PSI bursts, starting where the screen and casing meet. Mike employed one of our largest airgun sets, the 1900LL airgun tool with 200 cubic inch chamber, to deliver maximum energy. The theory was that the AirBurst shock waves could first break up the mineral scale and biological growth that had accumulated in between the casings, enabling the team to then lift the casing out.

The Results: Abandonment Complete

After only five bursts the casing moved in response to pulling a quarter of an inch, the first upward progress the team was able to make. On the sixth shot, the team was finally able to lift the casing completely using only the original R15, no supplementary jacks needed. Proceeding in 10-foot increments of casing, the WWS team was then able to complete the extraction and proceed to finish the abandonment scope per DNR code.

Key Takeaways for Well and Pump Contractors

Problem Solving: The WWS and AirBurst teams took a “first principles” approach to understand why the traditional methods for casing extraction were not working. With a clear understanding of the root cause of the problem, they were then able to successfully improvise on the fly.

More than just rehabs: AirBurst is a flexible technology that can be applied to more than just simple mechanical well rehabilitation jobs. Find out about our entire family of services here

AirXtraction Options: AirBurst has several methods to alter the intensity and harmonic frequency of the downhole percussion to achieve the desired effect: adjust chamber size, gas pressure, and air gun model used. We can try numerous combinations of these options to remove lodged objects or break apart objects to set conditions for extraction.

Contact AirBurst Technology today to learn how we can restore your well's performance or help in those tricky situations.

CASE STUDY: Restoring a Major Florida Drinking Well

AirBurst Experts — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 17:03:53 GMT

The Challenge

A major community-owned utility in Northeast Florida provides water to over 391,000 customers from 134 wells drawing from the Floridan aquifer. Placed into service 25 years earlier, this deep, open limestone well was originally a strong performer, with a specific capacity of up to 71 gpm/ft. However, two decades of operation, along with a dramatic structural modification needed to block salt water intrusion in the most productive zone, caused a staggering 71% drop in specific capacity to 5.4 gpm/ft.

An acid treatment immediately following the cement sealing provided a temporary boost in performance to 19.4 gpm/ft, but the success was fleeting. The underlying physical blockages remained, and over the next seven years, specific capacity fell back to 8.0 gpm/ft. This relapse demonstrated that athat a more powerful, physical intervention was needed to address the severe plugging in the well's remaining 200-foot production zone.

The AirBurst Solution

The project team, led by Justin Merritt and Blake Hare at Complete Services and validated by a major multinational engineering consulting firm, designed a multi-phase rehabilitation strategy grounded in a "Physical First" philosophy to enhance the performance of the acid treatment.

Phase 1: AirBurst Physical Rehabilitation

The process began with AirBurst technology. This involved lowering a 35-SL AirBurst gun into the well and releasing controlled, high-pressure pulses of gas. The resulting energy waves propagated deep into the Ocala Limestone formation to fracture brittle mineral scale, break up resilient biofilm, and reopen the network of fractures that were obstructed. This critical first step physically cleared the deep-seated blockages that chemical treatments alone could not reach.

Phase 2: Complete Services Proprietary Acidization

Following the AirBurst treatment, Complete Services applied its proprietary acidization method, applying 32% hydrochloric acid, which is standard practice in the open limestone wells in Florida. This chemical phase was strategically sequenced to capitalize on the work done by AirBurst. With the deep physical blockages cleared, the acid could penetrate farther and more uniformly into the formation, reaching a vastly increased surface area. This "chemical penetration" step efficiently dissolved the remaining mineral encrustations. This synergistic sequence—physical energy followed by chemical polishing—ensured both technologies were deployed under optimal conditions to produce a superior result.

The Results: 90% Improvement Validated

Conclusion

The rehabilitation of this deep limestone is a model for restoring complex and chronically failing groundwater assets. The results affirm the "Physical First" principle, proving that using AirBurst's physical energy to clear deep-seated blockages creates the ideal conditions for subsequent chemical treatments to perform at their peak potential. Removing blockages opens up a broader “path of least resistance” to get chemicals where they are needed to most, while also reducing the amount of fill it needs to interact with before it gets to its desired end point.

This project demonstrates that even a severely damaged and structurally compromised well can be brought back to productive life with the right technology and strategy. It proves that a proactive, intelligent asset management approach can restore value, ensure reliability, and promote the sustainable stewardship of our most precious natural resources.

For more information, please contact AirBurst Technology at www.airbursttechnology.com. To learn more about Complete Service’s expert drilling, repair, and rehab services in Florida and Georgia, visit them at www.jaxwelldrilling.com.

CASE STUDY: Revitalizing a Municipal Well

AirBurst Experts — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 17:02:03 GMT

The Challenge

In Central Illinois, a 10-inch sand and gravel well drilled to a depth of 311 feet, was showing significant signs of underperformance. With a pumping rate of 300 gpm, the well had a drawdown of 33 feet, resulting in a specific capacity of just 9.09 sc. This inefficiency was a growing concern for the municipality. A well contractor was brought in to find a solution, who partnered with AirBurst Well Services to rehabilitate the well. The initial assessment suggested that the screen and gravel pack were blocked up with sediment and minerals and that the well may never have been fully developed when it was first drilled 19 years earlier.

The AirBurst Solution:

The AirBurst team arrived on-site on August 6, 2025, to execute a comprehensive rehabilitation plan. Using a 35-SL model (3.5" diameter) air gun with a 40ci chamber, the crew performed five passes through the 16-foot screen interval with 0.055” slot size (295' to 311'), delivering two high-pressure bursts of compressed gas (500-1,000 PSI) per foot on each pass.

Almost immediately, the return water showed a heavy brown discharge. During subsequent pumping tests between passes, it became evident that the discharge was drilling mud that had been masked by the formation for over ten years. This discovery confirmed that the well's poor performance was directly linked to a blocked screen and formation as well as incomplete development at the time of its construction. The AirBurst process was effectively breaking up and purging the restrictive mud layer from the borehole wall and surrounding gravel pack.

The Results: A More Than 100% Improvement

The results after the AirBurst procedure were immediate and dramatic. The well's performance was not just restored; it was elevated to a level likely never achieved before. By removing the mineral contamination and residual drilling mud, AirBurst successfully re-established a powerful hydraulic connection between the well and the aquifer. The specific capacity was increased by 115%, and the significant reduction in drawdown means the pump will operate more efficiently, leading to lower energy costs and reduced wear over time.

Contact AirBurst Technology today to learn how we can restore your well's performance or help in those tricky situations. For more information on how AirBurst can improve your new or existing wells, visit www.airbursttechnology.com.