Pollutant fate models mathematical

Bonazountas, M. J. Fiksel (1982). ENVIRO Environmental Mathematical Pollutant Fate Modeling Handbook/Catalogue, EPA Contract No. 68-01-5146, Arthur D. Little, Inc., Cambridge, MA 02140. 

Bonazountas M. 1988. Mathematical pollutant fate modeling of petroleum products in soil systems. In Calabrese EJ, Kostecki, eds. Soils contaminated by petroleum Environmental and public health effects. New York, NY John Wiley and Sons, 31-97. 

Soil compartment chemical fate modeling has been traditionally performed for three distinct subcompartments the land surface (or watershed) the unsaturated soil (or soil) zone and the saturated (or groundwater) zone of a region. In general, the mathematical simulation is structured around two major cycles the hydrologic cycle and the pollutant cycle, each cycle being associated with a number of physicochemical processes. Watershed models account for a third cycle sedimentation. 

The aim of this chapter was to present some of the basic mechanisms that determine the fate of organic pollutants in porous media. In order to achieve a general understanding, simple models were presented that have explicit mathematical solutions. 

There are also several methods to determine patterns of fate and transport of pollutants in the environment. In some cases, microcosms and me-socosms are used to study fate, biodegradability, bioavailability, and transport within compartments. Field surveys may also be used to study fate and transport of pollutants in contaminated environments. Such studies involve collection and analysis of biota, water, air, soil, or sediment. In some cases, radioactively labeled contaminants ( tracers ) may be introduced in mesocosms or noncontaminated environments in order to determine their fate and patterns of transport. Finally, mathematical models are often used to produce computer simulations to... 

Understanding the transport and fate of pollutants in soils is among the most challenging and demanding current research topics. Predictions of mobility and transport of chemicals in the natural compartments usually rely on models and mathematical simulations. The effectiveness of these hinges on a fundamental knowledge of the reactions and interactions of the pollutant substrate at the boundaries of the respective compartments, governing its behavior in the different phases (gas, liquid, and solid). Phenomena have to be identified, characterized, and quantified with respect to kinetics and thermodynamics to provide a comprehensive and predictive model of the natural system under consideration. 

The mathematical model IMPACT [21 ] is for use in the near-highway environment, i.e., over a scale of meters, and consists of fate and transport analyses related to removal, reduction, and retardation (RRR) processes, plus generation of initial pollutant loadings. More specifically, the transport processes of ad-vection and dispersion (in soil) are coupled to the RRR processes of sorption, biodegradation, photolysis and volatilization. Model output consists of flows, loads (mass), concentration of surrogate chemical (surrogate for toxicity), and toxicity of tested C R materials in their appropriate reference environments. 

---