Chemical-Specific Representation of Air-Soil Exchange and Soil Penetration in Regional Multimedia Models
In multimedia mass-balance models, the soil compartment is an important sink as well as a conduit for transfers to vegetation and shallow groundwater. Here a novel approach for constructing soil transport algorithms for multimedia fate models is developed and evaluated. The resulting algorithms account for diffusion in gas and liquid components; advection in gas, liquid, or solid phases; and multiple transformation processes. They also provide an explicit quantification of the characteristic soil penetration depth. We construct a compartment model using three and four soil layers to replicate with high reliability the flux and mass distribution obtained from the exact analytical solution describing the transient dispersion, advection, and transformation of chemicals in soil with fixed properties and boundary conditions. Unlike the analytical solution, which requires fixed boundary conditions, the soil compartment algorithms can be dynamically linked to other compartments (air, vegetation, ground water, surface water) in multimedia fate models. We demonstrate and evaluate the performance of the algorithms in a model with applications to benzene, benzo(a)pyrene, MTBE, TCDD, and tritium.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; Environmental Protection Agency (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC03-76SF00098
- OSTI ID:
- 834477
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL-46693; R&D Project: 43AR01; TRN: US200432%%350
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 37, Issue 14; Other Information: Submitted to Environmental Science and Technology, Volume 37, No.14; Journal Publication Date: 07/15/2003; PBD: 1 Aug 2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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