The Effects of Viscosity and Subsurface Heterogeneity on a Brine Barrier Approach to DNAPL Remediation what what what

Lauren L. Murphy: The Effects of Viscosity and Subsurface Heterogeneity on a Brine Barrier Approach to DNAPL Remediation (Under the direction of Cass T. Miller) Dense nonaqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) are a long-term source of groundwater contamination. Difficulties of current remediation methods have led to the study of a novel brine barrier remediation technology (BBRT) which presents a solution to current limitations. This study utilized a mathematical model to advance understanding of BBRT at the macroscale. A subset of stochastic functions was employed to represent correlated random permeability fields and to asses their impacts on brine emplacement and brine removal efficiency. The injection of a highly viscous brine into the subsurface was seen to cause a decrease in permeability, leading to brine mounding around injection wells. For moderately heterogeneous domains, this behavior was able to be mitigated by the use of sufficiently low injection rates. However, local heterogeneities were shown to be the dominant factor in subsequent brine removal, emphasizing the importance of subsurface knowledge for accurate modeling and efficient implementation of BBRT.