Mechanisms that influence the interactions between remediation agent injection and contamination plume variation

Abstract

To study the interactions between remediation agent injection and hydrodynamic dispersion as well as the expansion of a contamination plume, a two-dimensional sandbox experiment was conducted to simulate and monitor the mixing of a remediation agent in the contamination plume and the expansion of the contamination plume over time. Potassium permanganate is a purple solution, and it represents the remediation agent; Perchloroethylene (PCE), is dyed green and was used to observe the migration and diffusion of the contaminant and the overlap of contamination and the agent-plume. Six quantitative characterization parameters: migration distance, (d_M), migration area, (A_M), initial area ratio, (K_i), spreading speed difference, (SSD), area ratio, (K_A) and migration distance ratio, (K_d), are proposed to comprehensively analyse the influence of the three factors of injection pressure, particle size and viscosity change on the mixing of a remediation agent and the expansion of the contamination plume over time. The results show that these six parameters can effectively characterize the mixing of the remediation agent and the expansion of the contamination plume, where d_M, A_M and K_i characterize the expansion and the other three parameters characterize the mixing. The factors increasing the expansion of the contamination plume follow the order: 40 cm > 30 cm > 20 cm, for injection pressure (water head); coarse sand > medium sand > fine sand for particle size; and no polymer added > added polymer 200 mg/L > added polymer 800 mg/L > added polymer 400 mg/L for viscosity adjustment. The factors that intensify the mixing of the remediation agent in the contamination plume follow the order: 20 cm > 30 cm > 40 cm (water head); coarse sand > medium sand > fine sand; and added polymer 400 mg/L > added polymer 200 mg/L > no polymer added> added polymer 800 mg/L. Finally, conclusions from the TOPSIS method show that under optimal injection conditions, mixing is enhanced without increasing plume expansion and that the optimum injection conditions are injection pressure = 20 cm, use of a coarse sand medium, and added polymer concentration = 400 mg/L.

Keywords: Contamination plume; Dispersion and mixing; Expansion of the plume; Injection; Remediation agent.