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AGU: Water Resources Research

 

Keywords

  • remediation
  • uranium
  • reactive transport
  • subsurface
  • model
  • dissimilatory metal-reducing bacteria

Index Terms

  • Biogeosciences: Bioremediation
  • Biogeosciences: Modeling
  • Biogeosciences: Contaminant and organic biogeochemistry

Abstract

WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH, VOL. 44, W08437, 17 PP., 2008
doi:10.1029/2007WR006301

Modeling U(VI) biomineralization in single- and dual-porosity porous media

B. E. Rotter

Contaminated Land Assessment and Remediation Research Centre, Institute for Infrastructure and Environment, School of Engineering and Electronics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

D. A. Barry

Contaminated Land Assessment and Remediation Research Centre, Institute for Infrastructure and Environment, School of Engineering and Electronics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

Ecological Engineering Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

J. I. Gerhard

Contaminated Land Assessment and Remediation Research Centre, Institute for Infrastructure and Environment, School of Engineering and Electronics, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

J. S. Small

Nexia Solutions Ltd. Risley, Warrington, UK

Uranium extraction, processing, and storage have resulted in a legacy of uranium-contaminated groundwater aquifers worldwide. An emerging remediation technology for such sites is the in situ immobilization of uranium via biostimulation of dissimilatory metal-reducing bacteria (DMRB). While this approach has been successfully demonstrated in experimental studies, advances in understanding and optimization of the technique are needed. The motivation of this work was to understand better how dual-porosity (DP) porous media may affect immobilization efficiency via interactions with the dominant geochemical and microbial processes. A biogeochemical reactive transport model was developed for uranium immobilization by DMRB in both single- and dual-porosity porous media. The impact that microbial residence location has on the success of biostimulated U(VI) immobilization in DP porous media was explored under various porosity and mass transfer conditions. Simulations suggest that DP media are likely to show delayed U(VI) immobilization relative to single-porosity systems. U(VI) immobilization is predicted to be less when microbial activity is restricted to diffusion-dominant regions but not when restricted to advective-dominant regions. The results further highlight the importance of characterizing the bioresidency status of field sites if biogeochemical models are to predict accurately remediation schemes in physically heterogeneous media.

Received 27 June 2007; accepted 11 June 2008; published 26 August 2008.

Citation: Rotter, B. E., D. A. Barry, J. I. Gerhard, and J. S. Small (2008), Modeling U(VI) biomineralization in single- and dual-porosity porous media, Water Resour. Res., 44, W08437, doi:10.1029/2007WR006301.

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