An analysis of the vaporization of volatile organic contaminants from porous media by conductive heating
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
A one-dimensional analytical model is developed for the vaporization of a single hydrocarbon contaminant, during subsurface remediation using steam injection, in the low permeability zones in the presence of a liquid water phase. The energy equation is solved to give temperature distributions in the two regions separated by the propagating evaporation front in terms of a defined similarity variable. Darcy`s law is then applied to predict the pressure distribution in the region between the evaporation front and the top surface in contact with the steam flowing in the high permeability zones of the subsurface. It is found that the length scale associated with the medium cleanup is proportional to the square root of the time scale and that the temperature at the evaporation front has the largest effect on the front propagation behavior. For relatively high permeability porous media, the temperature at the evaporation front is significantly lower than the normal boiling point of the hydrocarbon phase. This phenomenon is due to a convective flux of hydrocarbon and water vapor from the evaporation front caused by local total gas pressures exceeding the free stream steam pressure. The temperature at the evaporation front increases with decreasing medium permeability and increasing liquid hydrocarbon saturations. Iterative procedures are outlined to obtain the temperature and pressure distributions, evaporation front propagation behavior, and mass removal rates. The analytical solution is shown to be in good agreement with numerical simulation conducted using a validated simulator.
- OSTI ID:
- 435816
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-951135-; ISBN 0-7918-1755-5; TRN: IM9710%%474
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 1995 International mechanical engineering congress and exhibition, San Francisco, CA (United States), 12-17 Nov 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of the ASME Heat Transfer and Fluids Engineering Divisions: Fluid mechanics and heat transfer in sprays; Heat, mass and momentum transfer in environmental flows; Measurement techniques in multiphase flow; Multiphase transport in porous media. HTD-Volume 321; FED-Volume 233; Hoyt, J.W. [ed.] [San Diego State Univ., CA (United States)]; O`Hern, T.J. [ed.] [Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)]; Presser, C. [ed.] [National Inst. of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (United States)] [and others]; PB: 761 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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