Modeling the biodegradation kinetics of dissolved organic contaminants in a heterogeneous two-dimensional aquifer

MODELING THE BIODEGRADATION KINETICS OF DISSOLVED ORGANIC CONTAMINANTS BSf A HETEROGENEOUS TWO-DIMENSIONAL AQUIFER Joseph Eric Odencrantz, Ph.D. Department of Civil Engineering University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1992 Albert J. Valocchi and Bruce E. Rittmann, Co-Advisors The goal of this dissertation was to develop a versatile groundwater transport model capable of incorporating various types of biodegradation kinetic sub-models, and to use the model to examine the interaction between transport and biodegradation processes in a two-dimensional heterogeneous aquifer. Operator splitting, which involves splitting the transport and kinetic equations and solving each with an appropriate method, was the numerical technique chosen because of the ease at which different biodegradation kinetic models can be changed. The differences between the Monod and biofilm kinetic models were shown to be negligible by model simulations and dimensionless analysis for realistic groundwater parameter ranges. For dual limitation, two forms of the Monod model were examined, namely, the minimum-rate and multiplicative Monod models. Differences between the models could be quantified apriori by examining the kinetic parameters and substrate concentration values; maximum differences occur when one or both substrates are at subsaturation concentrations. The effects of heterogeneity were quantified by studying transport in a two-layer stratified domain. The effects of dispersion were found to be significant when electron acceptor was injected into a background concentration of electron donor due to increased mixing of the two substrates. Biomass accumulated at the interface between the slow and