PNNL

Abstract

In granular porous media, bacterial transport is often modeled using the advection-dispersion transport equation, modified to account for interactions between the bacteria and grain surfaces (attachment and detachment) using a linear kinetic reaction model. In this paper we examine the relationships among the parameters of the above model in the context of bacterial transport for bioaugmentation. In this context, we wish to quantify the distance to which significant concentrations of bacteria can be transported, as well as the uniformity with which they can be distributed within the subsurface. Because kinetic detachment rates (Kr) are typically much smaller than corresponding attachment rates (Kf), the attachment rate exerts primary control on the distance of bacterial transport. Hydraulic conductivity (K) also plays a significant role because of its direct relationship to the advective velocity and its typically high degree of spatial variability at field scales. Because Kf is related to the velocity, grain size, and porosity of the medium, as is K, we expect that there exists correlation between these two parameters. Previous investigators have assumed a form of correlation between Kf and ln(K) based in part on reparameterization of clean-bed filtration equations in terms of published relations between grain size, effective porosity, and ln(K). The hypotheses examined here are that (1) field-scale relationships between K and Kf can be developed by combining a number of theoretical and empirical results in the context of a heterogeneous aquifer flow model (following a similar approach to previous investigators with some extensions), and (2) correlation between K and Kf will enhance the distance of field-scale bacterial transport in granular aquifers. We test these hypotheses using detailed numerical models and observations of field-scale bacterial transport in a shallow sandy aquifer within the South Oyster Site near Oyster, Virginia, USA.