• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.13-21
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• 2008

Partitioning tracer method is a useful tool to characterize large domains of the aquifers contaminated with light nonaqueous phase liquids (LNAPLs). Sorption of the partitioning tracers to the organic matter content of soil can potentially influence the efficacy of partitioning tracer method. LNAPL-water partitioning coefficients of tracers ($K_{nw}$), measured by static method, showed linear relationship. Sorption isotherm tests were conducted to evaluate the sorption capacity of the soils packed in the columns and the results were appropriately represented by Freundlich sorption isotherm. The sorption of tracers proportionally increased with the increase of the organic matter content of the soil. Laboratory experiments were conducted in four columns each packed with soils of different organic matter contents to determine the potential interference effects of sorption to soil organic matter content and correction factors for the errors in estimation of LNAPLs by partitioning tracer method. Though there were no contaminants added, breakthrough curves from columns packed with mixture of Jumunjin standard sand and organic matter showed separation of tracers. Columns were then contaminated to residual saturation with kerosene and breakthrough curves were obtained. The results show that sorption of tracers to soil organic matter leads to an increase in the retardation factor (R) and hence, to an overestimation of the saturation of LNAPLs. A relation between the percentage of organic matter content and the corresponding percentage error in the estimation of NAPLs has been developed.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.47-54
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• 2007

The partitioning tracer method has been studied as an alternative method for detecting and characterizing the distribution of nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) contaminants in subsurface. The reliability of the partitioning tracer method depends on accurate measurements of partition coefficients of the partitioning tracers between water and NAPLs. In this study, partition coefficients of several alcohol tracers between water and benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, and BTEX mixtures are estimated using the modified approach of equivalent alkane carbon number (EACN). Agreements between the measured and estimated partition coefficients were generally observed in experiments. Based on these results, it is confirmed that the partition coefficients of tracers are readily obtained without experiments if the EACN values for the tracers and LNAPLs are known.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.09a
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• pp.1372-1377
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• 2009

For the remediation of the subsurface contaminated by nonaqueous phase liquids(NAPLs), it is important to characterize the NAPL zone properly. Conventional characterization methods provide data at discrete points. To overcome the weak points of conventional characterization methods, the partitioning tracer method has been developed and studied. The average saturation of NAPL($S_n$), which is the representative and continuous saturation value within contaminated site, can be calculated by comparing the transport of the partitioning tracers to that of the conservative tracer in the partitioning tracer method. In this study, the application of the partitioning tracer method in heterogeneous media was investigated. To represent the heterogeneous condition of subsurface, a two-dimensional soil box was divided into four layers and each layer contained different sized soils. Soils in the soil box were contaminated by the mixture of kerosene and diesel, and partitioning tracer tests were conducted before and after the contamination using methanol as conservative tracer and 4-methyl-2-pentanol, 2-ethyl-1-butanol, and hexanol as partitioning tracers. The response curves of partitioning tracers from contaminated soils were separated and retarded in comparison with those from non-contaminated soils. The contamination of soils by NAPLs, therefore, can be detected by partitioning tracer method considering these retardations of tracers. From our experiment condition, the average saturation of NAPLs calculated by partitioning tracer method using the methanol as conservative tracer and hexanol as partitioning tracer showed the highest accuracy, though all results were underestimated. Further studies, therefore, were needed for improving the accuracy using the partitioning tracer test in heterogeneous media.