Simplified simulation of steady state bioreactive transport with kinetic solute uptake by the biomass

Abstract

Biodegradation of continuously emitted compounds that need a dissolved reaction partner, which is not jointly introduced with the contaminant into the subsurface, is mainly controlled by transverse dispersive mixing. Previous analytical approaches of evaluating mixing‐controlled bioreactive transport in steady state have been based on the assumption that the bulk aqueous‐phase concentration of the reactants is directly available to the specific biomass catalyzing the reaction. These models predict a very narrow stripe of active biomass with high specific biomass concentration. Experimental studies have indicated that such behavior may be unrealistic, particularly for anaerobic biodegradation. I extend the previous analysis to include kinetic solute uptake by the biomass, expressed as a first‐order mass‐transfer process coupled to dual Monod kinetics in the bio‐available domain. The approach is based on the evaluation of conservative components undergoing advective‐dispersive transport, the solution of a quadratic speciation problem within the immobile bio domain, and iterative simulation of linear transport of a single reactive constituent in steady state. Convergence is typically achieved within less than ten iterations. The comparison with simulations assuming instantaneous solute uptake by the biomass indicate that mass‐transfer kinetics may explain larger overlap of reactive constituents and a wider spatial distribution of specific biomass observed in experiments. Depending on the rate coefficient of mass transfer, the overall transformation of the contaminant may be significantly reduced or only slightly shifted to a region farther downstream.