Reaction front formation in contaminant plumes

Abstract

The formation of successive fronts in contaminated groundwater plumes by subsoil bacterial action is a commonly accepted feature of their propagation, but it is not obviously clear from a mathematical standpoint quite how such fronts are formed or propagate. In this paper we show that these can be explained by combining classical reaction-diffusion theory involving just two reactants (oxidant and reductant), and a secondary reaction in which a reactant on one side of such a front is (re-)formed on the other side of the front via diffusion of its product across the front. We give approximate asymptotic solutions for the reactant profiles, and the propagation rate of the front.

Keywords: Bioremediation; Mathematical model; Reaction front; Reactive transport; Redox zonation; Terminal electron acceptors.