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FOOTPRINT: A COMPUTER APPLICATION FOR ESTIMATING PLUME AREAS OF BTEX COMPOUNDS IN GROUND WATER IMPACTED BY A SPILL OF GASOLINE CONTAINING ETHANOL
Citation:
AHSANUZZAMAN, A. AND J. T. WILSON. FOOTPRINT: A COMPUTER APPLICATION FOR ESTIMATING PLUME AREAS OF BTEX COMPOUNDS IN GROUND WATER IMPACTED BY A SPILL OF GASOLINE CONTAINING ETHANOL. Presented at 2005 NGWA Conference on MTBE, San Francisco, CA, May 26 - 27, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
to present information
Description:
FOOTPRINT estimates the overall area of a plume of BTEX compounds that were contained within two biodegradation zones, one zone where ethanol is present and there is no biodegradation of BTEX compounds, surrounded by a second zone where the ethanol has been removed by natural biodegradation and the rate of biodegradation of BTEX compounds is constant. Existing simple models for BTEX compounds (such as BIOSCREEN) can not model this interaction between ethanol and BTEX compounds because these models are limited to a single biodegradation rate uniformly applied across the flow path. FOOTPRINT applies the state-of-practice 3-dimensional analytical solute transport model developed by P. A. Domenico in 1987, which estimates solute concentration at any location downgradient from a constant concentration source for constant first-order decay. It first uses an estimate of the rate of ethanol biodegradation to calculate the distance downgradient from the source where ethanol inhibits BTEX biodegradation. Within this distance, concentrations of BTEX compounds can only attenuate through dilution and dispersion. Once ethanol is degraded, FOOTPRINT models BTEX biodegradation at a constant rate. FOOTPRINT assumes that the concentration of BTEX at the source is constant. It allows either a constant source or decaying source for ethanol. FOOTPRINT could also be applied to estimate the plume area of any single chemical compound downgradient from a constant concentration source for a constant decay rate.