The objective of this study was to quantitatively characterize the impact of porous-medium texture on interfacial area between immiscible organic liquid and water residing within natural porous media. Synchrotron X-ray microtomography was used to obtain high-resolution, three-dimensional images of solid and liquid phases in packed columns. The image data were processed to generate quantitative measurements of organic-liquid/water interfacial area and of organic-liquid blob sizes. Ten porous media, comprising a range of median grain sizes, grain-size distributions, and geochemical properties, were used to evaluate the impact of porous-medium texture on interfacial area. The results show that fluid-normalized specific interfacial area (Af) and maximum specific interfacial area (Am) correlate very well to inverse median grain diameter. These functionalities were shown to result from a linear relationship between effective organic-liquid blob diameter and median grain diameter. These results provide the basis for a simple method for estimating specific organic-liquid/water interfacial area as a function of fluid saturation for a given porous medium. The availability of a method for which the only parameter needed is the simple-to-measure median grain diameter should be of great utility for a variety of applications.

Fluid-fluid interfacial area for porous-media systems can be measured with the aqueous-phase interfacial partitioning tracer test (IPTT) method or with high-resolution microtomography. The results of prior studies have shown that interfacial areas measured with the IPTT method are larger than values measured with microtomography. The observed disparity has been hypothesized to result from the impact of porous-medium surface roughness on film-associated interfacial area, wherein the influence of surface roughness is characterized to some extent by the IPTT method but not by microtomography due to resolution constraints. This hypothesis was tested by using the two methods to measure interfacial area between an organic immiscible liquid and water for an ideal glass-beads medium that has no measurable surface roughness. The tracer tests yielded a mean interfacial area of 2.8 (± 5 cm−1), while microtomography produced an interfacial area of 2.7 (± 2 cm−1). Maximum specific interfacial areas, equivalent to areas normalized by non-wetting fluid volume, were calculated and compared to measures of the specific solid surface area. The normalized interfacial areas were similar to the specific solid surface area calculated using the smooth-sphere assumption, and to the specific solid surface area measured using the N2/BET method. The results presented herein indicate that both the IPTT and microtomography methods provide robust characterization of fluid-fluid interfacial area, and that they are comparable absent the impact of surface roughness.

Interfacial areas between an organic immiscible liquid and water were measured for two natural soils using the aqueous-phase interfacial partitioning tracer test method. The measured values were compared to measured values for silica sands compiled from the literature. The data were compared using the maximum specific interfacial area as a system index, which is useful for cases wherein fluid saturations differ. The maximum specific interfacial areas measured for the soils were significantly larger than the values obtained for the sands. The disparity between the values was attributed to the impact of surface roughness on solid surface area and hence film-associated interfacial area. A good correlation was observed between maximum specific interfacial area and specific solid surface area measured with the N2/BET method. The correlation may serve as a means by which to estimate maximum specific organic-liquid/water interfacial areas. Interfacial areas measured with the interfacial partitioning tracer method were compared to interfacial areas measured with high-resolution microtomography. Values measured with the former method were consistently larger than those measured with the latter, consistent with the general inability of the microtomography method to characterize roughness-associated surface area.

Synchrotron X-ray microtomography was used to characterize the pore-scale morphology and distribution of an organic immiscible liquid (trichloroethene) during water flushing to examine dissolution dynamics. The experiments were conducted with a natural porous medium that has a large particle-size distribution. The results were compared to those of a previous experiment conducted with a well-sorted natural sand. The median organic-liquid blob volume was smaller, and smaller blobs composed a larger fraction of the distribution, for the poorly-sorted medium. In addition, mass removal was less spatially uniform for the poorly-sorted medium. The concentration of trichloroethene in the column effluent was monitored during dissolution to assess mass-flux behavior. A first-order mass transfer equation was used to simulate the measured elution curves. Organic-liquid/water interfacial areas measured with microtomography were used as input, and simulated effluent concentrations were compared to the measured effluent concentrations to determine best-fit values for the mass-transfer coefficient. The value obtained for the poorly-sorted medium was approximately 10 times smaller than that obtained for the well-sorted medium. This disparity indicates that hydraulic accessibility of the organic liquid is more constrained for the poorly-sorted medium, which would be consistent with a more complex pore-scale flow field for the poorly-sorted medium.

Chlorinated-solvent compounds are among the most common groundwater contaminants in the U.S.A. The majority of the many sites contaminated by chlorinated-solvent compounds are located in metropolitan areas, and most such areas have one or more chlorinated-solvent contaminated sites. Thus, contamination of groundwater by chlorinated-solvent compounds may pose a potential risk to the sustainability of potable water supplies for many metropolitan areas. The impact of chlorinated-solvent sites on metropolitan water resources was assessed for Tucson, AZ, by comparing the aggregate volume of extracted groundwater for all pump-and-treat systems associated with contaminated sites in the region to the total regional groundwater withdrawal. The analysis revealed that the aggregate volume of groundwater withdrawn for the pump-and-treat systems operating in Tucson, all of which are located at chlorinated-solvent contaminated sites, was 20% of the total groundwater withdrawal in the city for the study period. The treated groundwater was used primarily for direct delivery to local water supply systems or for reinjection as part of the pump-and-treat system. The volume of the treated groundwater used for potable water represented approximately 13% of the total potable water supply sourced from groundwater, and approximately 6% of the total potable water supply. This case study illustrates the significant impact chlorinated-solvent contaminated sites can have on groundwater resources and regional potable-water supplies.