Modelling the interaction of physical, chemical and biological phenomena in porous soils: A summary of results

This paper presents a general modelling framework to describe dynamical phe nomena which take place during the bioremediation of contaminated soils, i. e. the degradation of contaminants by indigeneous microrganisms. The model is based upon the use of macroscopic cellular automata, and can take into a ccount multiphase flow in a porous medium, transport of solutes, chemical r eactions, biomass growth and its interaction with nutrients and contaminant s. Model parameters have been determined with genetic algorithms. The model has been tested on a set of pilot plant data taken under markedly differen t operating conditions, demonstrating good agreement between model predicti ons and actual experimental data.