• 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.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.66-72
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• 2010

The partitioning tracer method is to estimate the residual saturation of nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) in soils by analyzing tracer's retardation induced by the reversible partitioning of tracer with NAPL. This study is to estimate the residual diesel saturation in soils using the partitioning tracer method. Two-dimensional soil box was used to represent the 2-dimensional flows of groundwater and tracer solution in the saturated aquifer, and the soil box was filled with soil and then saturated with water. The residual diesel saturation was induced in saturated soil, and the partitioning tracer method was applied. The results from batch-partitioning experiment indicated that the diesel-water partitioning was linear with respect to tracer's concentration, and the partition coefficient of tracer between diesel and water was measured by their linearities. The groundwater flow in the saturated aquifer was simulated in the 2-dimensional soil box, and the residual diesel contamination was visually identified. The results from the partitioning tracer method with or without diesel in soils confirmed that 4-methyl-2-pentanol, 2-ethyl-1-butanol and 1-hexanol, can be used as a detecting method for diesel contamination. By the accuracies of estimations for diesel contamination using the partitioning tracer method, 2-ethyl-1- butanol showed the highest accuracy with 83%.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.3-9
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• 2011

Partitioning tracers have been used with non-partitioning, inert tracer such Br, for detection, estimation, and monitoring of remediation performance of the subsurface contaminated with nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs). Various partitioning tracers with different partition coefficients between aqueous and nonaqueous phase liquids can be used to determine the hydraulic conductivity, dispersivity, and residual mass of NAPLs in the subsurface soil matrices. Temporal moment-generating equations were used to analyze the field pilot-scale test results. The pilot-scale tests included conservative tracer tests and partitioning tracer tests. Analyses of nonaqueous phase liquid distribution and characteristics of groundwater bearing soil media were performed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2002.04a
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• pp.159-162
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• 2002

Innovative and nondestructive characterization techniques have been developed to locate and quantify nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) in the vadose and saturated zones in the subsurface environment. One such technique is the partitioning interwell tracer test (PITT). The PITT is a simultaneous displacement of partitioning and non-partitioning tracers through a subsurface formation. Partitioning tracers will partition into the NAPL during their transport through NAPL-contaminated formations. Mean travel times of partitioning and non-partitioning tracers are used to estimate the quantity of NAPL encountered by the displaced tracer pulse. Travel times are directly proportional to the partitioning coefficient and the volume of NAPL contacted in the subsurface environment. This paper discusses the conceptual background, design and implementation of PITTs. (This document has not been subjected to Agency review and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of the Agency, and no official endorsement should be inferred.)

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.115-118
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• 2006

The partitioning tracer method has been studied as an alternative method for characterizing aquifers contaminated by nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPLs). Accurate partition coefficients of tracers partitioning between NAPL and water are needed to improve the reliability of the partitioning tracer method. In this research, partition coefficients of alcohol tracers partitioning between benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) compounds and water are estimated from using the approach of equivalent alkane carbon number (EACN). General agreement was observed in between the measured and estimated partition coefficients. Based on these results we can verify that the EACN approach is suitable for estimating the partition coefficient.

• 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.19 no.3
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• pp.111-122
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• 2014

Partitioning interwell tracer test (PITT) is a method to quantify and qualify a site contaminated with NAPLs (Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids). Analytical description of PITT assumes that the injection-pumping well pair is on the line of the ambient groundwater flow direction, but the test-well pair could frequently be off the line in a real field site, which could be an erroneous factor in analyzing PITT data. The purpose of this work is to study the influence of the angle of the test-well pair on the ambient groundwater flow direction based on the result from PITT. From the experiments, it was found that the obliqueness of the test-well pair to the ambient groundwater flow direction could affect the tracer test resulting in a decreased NAPL estimation efficiency. In case of an oblique arrangement of the test-well pair to the ambient flow direction, it was found that the injection of a chase fluid could enhance the estimation efficiency. An increase of the pumping rate could enhance the recovery rate but it cannot be said that a high pumping rate can increase the test efficiency because a high pumping rate cannot give partitioning tracers enough time to partition into NAPLs. The results have a implication that because the arrangement of the test-well pair is a controlling factor in performing and interpreting PITT in the field in addition to the known factors such as heterogeneity and the source zone architecture, flow direction should be seriously considered in arranging test-well pair.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.20-28
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• 2006

Partitioning tracer tests were conducted to quantify the saturation degree of diesel and water in unsaturated soil, respectively. The use of partitioning tracers that partition into diesel, water, and air (i.e., three-phase partitioning), is in attractive alternative to traditional coring and analysis method. These gaseous partition tracers not global warming gas like CFC's are Butane, Acetylene, Ethylene, Methylene chloride, and Methane. The glass column packed with sandy soil was prepared, in which a three-phase system of air, water, and diesel was maintained. Conservative and partition gas tracers were injected into the columns and detected easily using a single GC detector(FID). For each tracer, a method of moments was used to estimate partition coefficient between water, diesel. and the air, respectively. The results from the column studies showed that the diesel/air tracer partition coefficient ranged from 8.2 to 868 and 9.2 for water/air. Saturation degree of diesel and water in the column, predicted by the partition coefficients obtained from tests, was underestimated up to 66% and 23% respectively.

• 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 Society of Soil and Groundwater Environment Conference
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• 2004.09a
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• pp.29-32
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• 2004

Gaseous partitioning tracer test has been used for determining the volume and spatial distribution of residual non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) in the unsaturated soils. In this study, an experimental method for measuring the content of gas-exposed NAPL as well as that of total NAPL in a sand during air sparging was developed. Two different gaseous phase NAPL-partitioning tracers were used; n-pentane, with very low water solubility, was used as the tracer that partitions into NAPL that is only in contact with the mobile gas, and chloroform, with fairly good water solubility, was selected for detecting total NAPL content in the sand. Helium and difluromethanewere used as the non- reactive tracer and water-partitioning tracers, respectively. Using n-decane as a model NAPL (NAPL saturation of 0.018), 25.6% of total NAPL was detected by n-pentane at the water saturation of 0.68. Oniy 9.1% of total NAPL was detected by n-pentane at the water saturation of 0.84. This result implies that the quantity of gas-exposed NAPL increased about three times when the water saturation decreased from 0.84 to 0.68. At the water saturation of 0.68, more than 90% of total NAPL was detected by chloroform while 65.8% of total NAPL was detected by chloroform at the water saturation of 0.84. Considering that the removal rate of NAPL during air sparging for NAPL-contaminated aquifer is expected to be greatly dependent upon the spatial arrangement of NAPL phase with respect to the mobile gas, this new approach may provide useful information for investigating the mass transfer process during air-driven remedial processes fer NAPL-contaminated subsurface environment.