HR: 12:05h
AN: H42A-08    [Abstracts]
TI: Compositional Simulation of Subsurface Remediation via Density Modified Displacement
AU: * Phelan, T J
EM: thomas.phelan@tufts.edu
AF: Integrated Multiphase Environmental Systems Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University, 113 Anderson Hall, 200 College Ave, Medford, MA 02155 United States
AU: Ramsburg, C A
EM: andrew.ramsburg@tufts.edu
AF: Integrated Multiphase Environmental Systems Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University, 113 Anderson Hall, 200 College Ave, Medford, MA 02155 United States
AU: Abriola, L M
EM: linda.abriola@tufts.edu
AF: Integrated Multiphase Environmental Systems Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University, 113 Anderson Hall, 200 College Ave, Medford, MA 02155 United States
AB: Reduced interfacial tension displacement of nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) in the subsurface can be an efficient means of remediating contaminant source zones. Application of technologies based upon this principle, however, is problematic for NAPLs that are denser than water (DNAPLs) due to their tendency to sink further into the subsurface when mobilized. Pre-mobilization density conversion via alcohol partitioning has been suggested as a means of overcoming this problem. This presentation details efforts in the mathematical modeling of this proposed technology. A comprehensive, empirically-based, multiphase flow and transport model which incorporates the ternary phase partitioning behavior of the DNAPL-alcohol-water system and compositionally dependent phase ({\it e.g.}, density and viscosity) and interfacial properties ({\it i.e.}, interfacial tension, capillary pressure-saturation and relative permeability relationships, NAPL entrapment behavior) is described. Model simulations of bench-scale laboratory experiments examining the density conversion and mobilization of entrapped trichloroethene with {\it n}-butanol are presented. These results demonstrate the compositional model's ability to accurately describe the density modified displacement process. Sensitivity of model predictions to different physicochemical processes is highlighted.
DE: 1829 Groundwater hydrology
DE: 1831 Groundwater quality
DE: 1832 Groundwater transport
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting