SIMULATION OF SURFACTANT-ENHANCED AQUIFER REMEDIATION

Surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) is currently under acti ve investigation as one of the most promising alternatives to conventi onal pump-and-treat remediation for aquifers contaminated by dense non aqueous phase organic liquids. An existing three-dimensional finite-di fference enhanced oil recovery simulator is adapted to model the SEAR process. This simulator incorporates the complex chemistry and multiph ase transport behavior of surfactant/water/organic mixtures in permeab le media. Model governing equations and parameter requirements are dis cussed, and simulations are employed to illustrate some important issu es potentially affecting SEAR performance at the field scale. Simulati ons suggest that the total time for remediation could be reduced by mo re than an order of magnitude over conventional remediation approaches by employing SEAR. The assumptions, approximations, and conditions re quired to achieve such a favorable result are identified, and the impo rtance of modeling as a quantitative tool for the assessment of SEAR i s highlighted.