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A mean behavior model of aerobic biodegradation in heterogeneous formation

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Abstract

It has been observed that the field biodegradation rates for soluble hydrocarbon plumes are significantly smaller than the aerobic rates observed in the laboratory. It is believed that this difference is related to the fact that in the field oxygen and hydrocarbon must be mixed before the biodegradation reaction can occur, and that the effective degradation rate is controlled by the actual, not mean, concentrations of oxygen and hydrocarbon. In this work, we present a conceptual model of oxygen-mixing limited biodegradation, which indicates that the effective degradation rate should depend on the cross correlation between the oxygen and hydrocarbon concentration fluctuations. This is followed by a development of a rigorous, field-scale model.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Utah Water Research Lab, Utah State University, 84322-8200, Logan, UT, USA

    M. W. Kemblowski, C-M. Chang & I. Kamil

Authors
  1. M. W. Kemblowski
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  2. C-M. Chang
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  3. I. Kamil
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Kemblowski, M.W., Chang, CM. & Kamil, I. A mean behavior model of aerobic biodegradation in heterogeneous formation. Stochastic Hydrol Hydraul 11, 255–266 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02427918

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02427918

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