Permeability reductions induced by sorption of surfactant

Abstract

Surfactant enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) is an attractive alternative to traditional pump and treat methods for remediating aquifers contaminated with nonaqueous phase liquids. However, initial studies indicate that the application of surfactant can reduce aquifer permeability by more than an order of magnitude, limiting the efficiency of SEAR. A series of column experiments using mixtures of medium sand and montmorillonite clay demonstrate that existing permeability reduction models for biofouling and deep‐bed filtration poorly predict surfactant induced permeability reductions. An alternative permeability reduction model is proposed which is based on the assumption that the sorbed surfactant effectively increases the volume fraction of the clay. The model is shown to reasonably predict observed permeability reductions, particularly for clay fractions less than 20%. A numerical simulation of surfactant transport that incorporates the effective clay fraction model demonstrates that induced permeability reductions significantly influence the transport of surfactant through an aquifer.