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DEVELOPMENT OF BIOPLUME4 MODEL FOR FUELS AND CHLORINATED SOLVENT BIODEGRADATION
Citation:
Rifai, H. S., C. J. Newell, A. M. Spexet, AND J T. Wilson*. DEVELOPMENT OF BIOPLUME4 MODEL FOR FUELS AND CHLORINATED SOLVENT BIODEGRADATION. Presented at Battelle Conference, Baltimore, MD, June 06 - 09, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public.
Description:
The Bioplume model has been in development and use for modeling biodegradation and natural attenuation since the late 80's. Bioplume I focused on aerobic biodegradation of BTEX. Bioplume II simulated oxygen and hydrocarbons and simulated biodegradation using an instantaneous reaction. Anaerobic biodegradation in Bioplume II was modeled as a first-order reaction. Bioplume III expanded the kinetic expressions for biodegradation available in Bioplume II and included first-order, instantaneous and Monod kinetics. Additionally, Bioplume III simulated the anaerobic electron acceptors in the surface along with oxygen and hydrocarbons. In this fourth generation version, the conceptual model for biodegradation in Bioplume has been significantly changed. There is a growing appreciation of the role of Iron III minerals in the abiotic transformation of contaminants including cis-DCE and vinyl chloride and MTBE. Existing codes cannot simulate biodegradation by iron reducing microoganisms in a logical and straightforward manner. BIOPLUME 4 was developed to meet this need. The key changes include: (1) simulating both fuels and chlorinated solvents; (2) eliminating Monod kinetics due to the lack of kinetics rate data; (3) addition of a zero-order kinetic expression for BTEX; (4) allowing iron reduction and methanogenesis to occur simultaneously for BTEX; and (5) incorporating biodegradation for vinyl chloride and cis-DCE using iron as an electron acceptor. Furthermore, the Bioplume4 model incorporates a new interface fir data entry and visualization that allows comparison to measured data in monitoring wells. This paper will present the new biodegradation conceptual model implemented in Bioplume4 as well as illustrative examples.