Surfactant enhanced remediation: Application of numerical models in pilot test design

Numerical models are being used to design a surfactant enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) pilot test at a PCE contaminated site in Oscoda, MI. Laboratory column and sand box experiments have shown that Tween 80, a nonionic surfactant, can enhance PCE recovery by orders of magnitude in site aquifer materials with little or no increase in the mobility of the separate phase organic liquid. Geostatistical models are used to generate hydraulic conductivity distributions representative of small-scale formation heterogeneity for use with numerical simulators.