Partitioning tracer tests as a remediation metric: Case study at naval amphibious base little creek, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Abstract

The partitioning tracer test (PTT) is a characterization tool that can be used to quantify the porespace saturation (S N ) and spatial distribution of dense nonaqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs)

Scenario-based modelling of mass transfer mechanisms at a petroleum contaminated field site-numerical implications

“…At the field scale, NAPL migration is controlled by a complex combination of aquifer properties, NAPL properties, and other macro-scale features such as released volume of NAPL, local pumping effects and lithology (Mercer and Cohen, 1990;Divine et al, 2004). Therefore, sitespecific mathematical models are necessary for investigating the dissolution and transport of NAPL compounds, which largely depend on the nature of the contaminant source and the initial fuel composition (Ostendorf and Kampbell, 1991;Zhu and Sykes, 2000;Vaezihir et al, 2012).…”

“…Studies with soil core petro-physical testing at numerous sites have indicated that NAPL is rarely observed to exhibit significant mobility at saturations less than 20e25% (ITRC, 2009;Rousseau et al, 2012). The initial NAPL saturation at various fresh spilled sites may range from 10% to 20% based on the partitioning tracer studies (McCray and Brusseau, 1999;Divine et al, 2004;McCray et al, 2011). The estimation of field scale Sn, however, depends on the screening level of total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration (mg/kg) (Rousseau et al, 2012).…”

Partitioning tracer method for quantifying the residual saturation of refined petroleum products in saturated soil

“…Transitional soil coring methods for the assessment of LNAPL contamination have been reported to be ineffective as a result of the remobilization of LNAPLs during their sampling and the inability to determine the spatial distribution of LNAPLs from localized samples (Dai et al 2001). Larger spatial volumes of the subsurface could be investigated by using the partitioning tracer method (Jin et al 1995;Nelson and Brusseau 1996;Annable et al 1998;Nelson et al 1999;Young et al 1999;Cain et al 2000;Rao et al 2000;Davis et al 2002;Devine et al 2004;Jones and Smith 2005;Werner et al 2009). This indirect method determines the average NAPL saturation, S n , for the tracer swept volume between injection and extraction wells.…”

Effect of soil organic carbon on the quantification of jet-fuels in soil using partitioning tracer method

“…Successful source control largely depends on the accurate delineation for the volume of LNAPLs in the targeted sites [6]. However, the conventional methods based on the point analysis like soil coring, cone penetrometer testing, soil gas analysis, aqueous-phase sampling, etc., are not effective for quantifying the LNAPL contamination because these methods could not estimate the residual state of LNAPL beyond the sampling point [7][8][9]. A major weakness of these methods is that they could provide data only at the discrete points and cover relatively small aquifer volumes [1,8].…”

“…The partitioning tracer method has been studied as an effective technique for estimating the contamination with nonaqueousphase liquids (NAPLs) in the subsurface by previous researchers [3,6,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. In this method, the partitioning tracer is reversibly retained by NAPL while the nonpartitioning tracer stays in the water phase, which should consequently cause the difference in the flowing velocities of two tracers in the subsurface.…”