Modelling of physical and reactive processes during biodegradation of a hydrocarbon plume under transient groundwater flow conditions

Numerical experiments of non-reactive and reactive transport were carried out to quantify the influence of a seasonally varying, transient flow field on transport and natural attenuation at a hydrocarbon-contaminated field site. Different numerical schemes for solving advective transport were compar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of contaminant hydrology 2002-11, Vol.59 (1), p.113-131
Main Authors: Prommer, H, Barry, D.A, Davis, G.B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aquifers
Biodegradation, Environmental
BTEX
Dispersion
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics
Exact sciences and technology
Ground water
Hydrocarbons - analysis
Hydrocarbons - metabolism
Hydrogeology
Hydrology. Hydrogeology
Models, Theoretical
MODFLOW
MT3DMS
Natural attenuation
PHREEQC
PHT3D
Pollution, environment geology
Reactive transport
Seasons
Simulations
Soil Pollutants - analysis
Soil Pollutants - metabolism
Sorption
Transverse mixing
Vertical mixing
Water Movements
Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis
Water Pollutants, Chemical - metabolism
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Summary:Numerical experiments of non-reactive and reactive transport were carried out to quantify the influence of a seasonally varying, transient flow field on transport and natural attenuation at a hydrocarbon-contaminated field site. Different numerical schemes for solving advective transport were compared to assess their capability to model low transversal dispersivities in transient flow fields. For the field site, it is shown that vertical plume spreading is largely inhibited, particularly if sorption is taken into account. For the reactive simulations, a biodegradation reaction module for the geochemical transport model PHT3D was developed. Results of the reactive transport simulations show that under the site-specific conditions the temporal variations in groundwater flow do, to a modest extent, affect average biodegradation rates and average total (dissolved) contaminant mass in the aquifer. The model simulations demonstrate that the seasonal variability in groundwater flow only results in significantly enhanced biodegradation rates when a differential sorption of electron donor (toluene) and electron acceptor (sulfate) is assumed.
ISSN:0169-7722
1873-6009
DOI:10.1016/S0169-7722(02)00078-5