Biodegradation and Transverse Mixing: Controlling Processes in Aquifer Remediation
Abstract
A two-dimensional biodegradation model is considered including simultaneous transport and biodegradation of organic contaminant, electron acceptor and, moreover, growth and decay of micro-organisms in a two-dimensional half plane. Three enhanced natural attenuation (ENA) problems are studied: Instantaneous point source, continuous point source, and line source (y>0) injection of electron acceptor into a flow domain initially contaminated everywhere by a mobile organic contaminant species and filled with an immobile microbial species. In each case, injection of the electron acceptor leads to the development of a dispersive mixing zone between the zone where the biomass is activated and the inactive zone. The base model consists of three coupled nonlinear partial differential equations. In the time-dependent cases, these three equations are reduced to two coupled equations whilst in the stationary cases, the problem is reduced further. A numerical solution is used to investigate the role of biodegradation and hydrodynamic (transversal) dispersion on plume development and aquifer remediation.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2005
- Bibcode:
- 2005AGUFM.H51F0435H
- Keywords:
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- 1800 HYDROLOGY;
- 1829 Groundwater hydrology;
- 1831 Groundwater quality;
- 1832 Groundwater transport;
- 1847 Modeling