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Eckert, D.* ; Qiu, S. ; Elsner, M. ; Cirpka, O.A.*

Model complexity needed for quantitative analysis of high resolution isotope and concentration data from a toluene-pulse experiment.

Environ. Sci. Technol. 47, 6900-6907 (2013)
DOI PMC
Open Access Green as soon as Postprint is submitted to ZB.
Separating microbial- and physical-induced effects on the isotope signals of contaminants has been identified as a challenge in interpreting compound-specific isotope data. In contrast to simple analytical tools, such as the Rayleigh equation, reactive-transport models can account for complex interactions of different fractionating processes. The question arises how complex such models must be to reproduce the data while the model parameters remain identifiable. In this study, we reanalyze the high-resolution data set of toluene concentration and toluene-specific δ(13)C from the toluene-pulse experiment performed by Qiu et al. (this issue). We apply five reactive-transport models, differing in their degree of complexity. We uniquely quantify degradation and sorption properties of the system for each model, estimate the contributions of biodegradation-induced, sorption-induced, and transverse-dispersion-induced isotope fractionation to the overall isotope signal, and investigate the error introduced in the interpretation of the data when individual processes are neglected. Our results show that highly resolved data of both concentration and isotope ratios are needed for unique process identification facilitating reliable model calibration. Combined analysis of these highly resolved data demands reactive transport models accounting for nonlinear degradation kinetics and isotope fractionation by both reactive and physical processes such as sorption and transverse dispersion.
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Publication type Article: Journal article
Document type Scientific Article
Keywords Trapped Gas-phase ; Contaminated Aquifer ; Porous-media ; Fractionation Analysis ; Organic Contaminants ; Stable Carbon ; Transport ; Biodegradation ; Degradation ; Quantification
ISSN (print) / ISBN 0013-936X
e-ISSN 1520-5851
Journal Environmental Science & Technology
Quellenangaben Volume: 47, Issue: 13, Pages: 6900-6907 Article Number: , Supplement: ,
Publisher American Chemical Society (ACS)
Publishing Place Washington, DC
Reviewing status Peer reviewed
Institute(s) Institute of Groundwater Ecology (IGOE)