Abstract
The presence of retained colloidal particles causes the retardation of contaminant transport when the contaminant is favorably adsorbed to colloidal particles. Although the particle size distribution affects the retention behavior of colloidal particles, the impact of particle size distribution on contaminant transport has not been reported to date. This study investigates the impact of the particle size distribution of the colloidal particles on contaminant transport through numerical simulation by representing the particle size distribution as a lognormal distribution function. In addition, the bed efficiency and contaminant saturation of simulated breakthrough curves were calculated, and a contaminant transport model with the Langmuir isotherm for the reaction between the contaminant–sand and contaminant–colloidal particle was introduced and validated with experimental data. The simulated breakthrough curves, bed efficiency, and contaminant saturation indicated that an increase in the mean and standard deviation of the particle size distribution causes the retardation of contaminant transport.
Highlights
It is well-known that the transport and retention behavior of organic and inorganic colloidal particles (
This work investigated the impact of particle size distribution for colloidal particles on contaminant transport by performing a numerical simulation
The colloidal-particle-associated contaminant transport model along with the Langmuir adsorption model for the reaction between contaminant–sand and contaminant–colloidal particles was introduced, and a parametric study was performed at varied mean and standard deviation of particle size distribution
Summary
It is well-known that the transport and retention behavior of organic and inorganic colloidal particles (
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