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Papers by Jan Schaerlaekens

Research paper thumbnail of Numerieke analyse van transport en degradatie van gehalogeneerde koolwaterstoffen in poreuze media

Numerieke analyse van transport en degradatie van gehalogeneerde koolwaterstoffen in poreuze media

Available from KULeuven, Campusbib. Exacte Wetenschappen, Celestijnenlaan 300A, 3001 Heverlee, Be... more Available from KULeuven, Campusbib. Exacte Wetenschappen, Celestijnenlaan 300A, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium / UCL - Université Catholique de LouvainSIGLEBEBelgiu

Research paper thumbnail of A multi-objective optimization framework for surfactant-enhanced remediation of DNAPL contaminations

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 2006

A large quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated worldwide, and its effective managem... more A large quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated worldwide, and its effective management is a major problem in urban areas or particularly the areas where waste is dumped. Numerous technological alternatives are available for waste treatment, each with different costs and environmental footprints. For sustainable waste management, both economic and environmental aspects should be considered. Therefore, this study addresses the systematic design of processing routes for the sustainable management and utilization of MSW under economic and environmental criteria. To address this, a generic superstructure-based multiobjective optimization framework is developed. MSW superstructure composes of the potential processing routes for the waste management where MSW can be utilized for energy generation and other valuable waste-based products. On the basis of superstructure, we develop a multiobjective mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model that simultaneously maximizes the net profit and minimizes the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The developed optimization model is coded and solved in GAMS to determine the optimal most promising routes for the sustainable processing of MSW. A case of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is employed to test the applicability of the developed framework. The optimization results emphasize that pathway 2 shows a decent trade-off between economic and environmental objectives, whereas the two most environmentally sustainable processing pathways have the potential to reduce GHG emissions by 58% and 80%, compared with business as usual (BAU) scenario, and also possess potential economic benefits. The insights gained from this analysis guide the municipality planners to devise a promising and sustainable waste management strategy.

Research paper thumbnail of Energy Performance of Buildings: R&D policy of the regions in Belgium

Energy Performance of Buildings: R&D policy of the regions in Belgium

Research paper thumbnail of Analysis of The Impact of The Spatial Resolution of The Initial Dnapl Saturation On The Simulation of Organic Concentrations

Analysis of The Impact of The Spatial Resolution of The Initial Dnapl Saturation On The Simulation of Organic Concentrations

ABSTRACT

Research paper thumbnail of Surfactant enhanced solubilization of residual trichloroethene: An experimental and numerical analysis

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology

The ability of an aqueous polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan monooleate solution to solubilize a Ž . res... more The ability of an aqueous polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan monooleate solution to solubilize a Ž . residual trichloroethene TCE saturation, present as a trapped dense non-aqueous phase liquid Ž . DNAPL , was studied in a series of column experiments. Different flow regimes and stopflow scenarios were applied. No mobilization of the DNAPL was observed, leading to the assumption that the only recovery mechanism was a surfactant enhanced micellar solubilization of the TCE molecules. The solubilization of TCE by the surfactant solution was observed to be rate-limited under the applied conditions and the exchange rate depended on pore water velocity and volumetric DNAPL content. A phenomenological power-law model between the mass transfer rate and the pore water velocity and volumetric DNAPL content was implemented in a numerical model to describe DNAPL dissolution, advection and dispersion in the water phase. The applied model accounts for non-flow dissolution. The obtained mass transfer rate parameters provide a good fit to the experimental data also for no-flow conditions. Compared to other mass transfer rate models the obtained relationship predicts lower mass transfer rates and an intercept in case of zero flow. q .be J. Schaerlaekens . 0169-7722r00r$ -see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Research paper thumbnail of Multi objective optimization of the setup of a surfactant-enhanced DNAPL remediation

Environmental science & technology, 2005

Surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) is widely considered a promising technique to reme... more Surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) is widely considered a promising technique to remediate dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) contaminations in-situ. The costs of a SEAR remediation are important and depend mostly on the setup of the remediation. Costs can be associated with the installation of injection and extraction wells, the required time of the remediation (and thus labor costs, lease of installations, and energy), the extracted water volume (the purification of the extracted water), and the injected surfactant amount. A cost-effective design of the remediation setup allows an optimal use of resources. In this work, a SEAR remediation was simulated for a hypothetical typical DNAPL contamination. A constrained multi-objective optimization of the model was applied to obtain a Pareto set of optimal remediation strategies with different weights for the two objectives of the remediation: (i) the maximal removal of DNAPL mass (ii) with a minimal total cost. A relative...

Research paper thumbnail of Surfactant enhanced solubilization of residual trichloroethene: an experimental and numerical analysis

The ability of an aqueous polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan monooleate solution to solubilize a Ž . res... more The ability of an aqueous polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan monooleate solution to solubilize a Ž . residual trichloroethene TCE saturation, present as a trapped dense non-aqueous phase liquid Ž . DNAPL , was studied in a series of column experiments. Different flow regimes and stopflow scenarios were applied. No mobilization of the DNAPL was observed, leading to the assumption that the only recovery mechanism was a surfactant enhanced micellar solubilization of the TCE molecules. The solubilization of TCE by the surfactant solution was observed to be rate-limited under the applied conditions and the exchange rate depended on pore water velocity and volumetric DNAPL content. A phenomenological power-law model between the mass transfer rate and the pore water velocity and volumetric DNAPL content was implemented in a numerical model to describe DNAPL dissolution, advection and dispersion in the water phase. The applied model accounts for non-flow dissolution. The obtained mass transfer rate parameters provide a good fit to the experimental data also for no-flow conditions. Compared to other mass transfer rate models the obtained relationship predicts lower mass transfer rates and an intercept in case of zero flow. q .be J. Schaerlaekens . 0169-7722r00r$ -see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Research paper thumbnail of Effect of scale and dimensionality on the surfactant-enhanced solubilization of a residual DNAPL contamination

Effect of scale and dimensionality on the surfactant-enhanced solubilization of a residual DNAPL contamination

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 2004

The mass transfer rate from residual dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) to the mobile aqueo... more The mass transfer rate from residual dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) to the mobile aqueous phase is an important parameter for the efficiency of surfactant-enhanced remediation through solubilization of this type of contamination. The mass transfer kinetics are highly dependent on the dimensionality of the system. In this study, irregularly shaped residual TCE saturations in two-dimensional saturated flow fields were flushed with a 2% polyoxyethylene sorbitan (20) monooleate (POESMO) solution until complete removal had been achieved. A numerical model was developed and used for the simulation of the various surfactant-flushing experiments with different initial saturation patterns and flow rates. Through optimization against in situ concentration and saturation data, a phenomenological power-law model for the relationship between the mass transfer rate from the DNAPL to the mobile aqueous phase on the one hand and the residual DNAPL saturation and the flow velocity on the other hand was derived. The obtained mass transfer rate parameters provide a reasonable fit to the experimental data, predicting the cleanup time and the general saturation and concentration pattern quite well but failing to predict the concentration curves at every individual sampling port. The obtained mass transfer rate model gives smaller values for the predicted mass transfer rate but shows a comparable dependence on water flow and saturation as in earlier published one-dimensional column experiments with identical characteristics for porous medium, DNAPL and surfactant. Mass transfer rate predictions were about one order of magnitude lower in the 2-D flow cell experiment than in 1-D column experiments. These results give an indication for the importance of dimensionality during surfactant remediation.

Research paper thumbnail of Surfactant enhanced solubilization of residual trichloroethene: an experimental and numerical analysis

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 2000

The ability of an aqueous polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan monooleate solution to solubilize a Ž . res... more The ability of an aqueous polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan monooleate solution to solubilize a Ž . residual trichloroethene TCE saturation, present as a trapped dense non-aqueous phase liquid Ž . DNAPL , was studied in a series of column experiments. Different flow regimes and stopflow scenarios were applied. No mobilization of the DNAPL was observed, leading to the assumption that the only recovery mechanism was a surfactant enhanced micellar solubilization of the TCE molecules. The solubilization of TCE by the surfactant solution was observed to be rate-limited under the applied conditions and the exchange rate depended on pore water velocity and volumetric DNAPL content. A phenomenological power-law model between the mass transfer rate and the pore water velocity and volumetric DNAPL content was implemented in a numerical model to describe DNAPL dissolution, advection and dispersion in the water phase. The applied model accounts for non-flow dissolution. The obtained mass transfer rate parameters provide a good fit to the experimental data also for no-flow conditions. Compared to other mass transfer rate models the obtained relationship predicts lower mass transfer rates and an intercept in case of zero flow. q .be J. Schaerlaekens . 0169-7722r00r$ -see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Research paper thumbnail of Numerical simulation of transport and sequential biodegradation of chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons using CHAIN_2D

Hydrological Processes, 1999

Microbiological degradation of perchloroethylene (PCE) under anaerobic conditions follows a serie... more Microbiological degradation of perchloroethylene (PCE) under anaerobic conditions follows a series of chain reactions, in which, sequentially, trichloroethylene (TCE), cis-dichloroethylene (c-DCE), vinylchloride (VC) and ethene are generated. First-order degradation rate constants, partitioning coecients and mass exchange rates for PCE, TCE, c-DCE and VC were compiled from the literature. The parameters were used in a case study of pump-and-treat remediation of a PCE-contaminated site near Tilburg, The Netherlands. Transport, non-equilibrium sorption and biodegradation chain processes at the site were simulated using the CHAIN_2D code without further calibration. The modelled PCE compared reasonably well with observed PCE concentrations in the pumped water. We also performed a scenario analysis by applying several increased reductive dechlorination rates, re¯ecting dierent degradation conditions (e.g. addition of yeast extract and citrate). The scenario analysis predicted considerably higher concentrations of the degradation products as a result of enhanced reductive dechlorination of PCE. The predicted levels of the very toxic compound VC were now an order of magnitude above the maximum permissible concentration levels.

Research paper thumbnail of Multi-Objective Optimization of the Setup of a Surfactant-Enhanced DNAPL Remediation

Environmental Science & Technology, 2005

Surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) is widely considered a promising technique to reme... more Surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) is widely considered a promising technique to remediate dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) contaminations in-situ. The costs of a SEAR remediation are important and depend mostly on the setup of the remediation. Costs can be associated with the installation of injection and extraction wells, the required time of the remediation (and thus labor costs, lease of installations, and energy), the extracted water volume (the purification of the extracted water), and the injected surfactant amount. A costeffective design of the remediation setup allows an optimal use of resources. In this work, a SEAR remediation was simulated for a hypothetical typical DNAPL contamination. A constrained multi-objective optimization of the model was applied to obtain a Pareto set of optimal remediation strategies with different weights for the two objectives of the remediation: (i) the maximal removal of DNAPL mass (ii) with a minimal total cost. A relatively sharp Pareto front was found, showing a considerable tradeoff between DNAPL removal and total remediation costs. These Pareto curves can help decision makers select an optimal remediation strategy in terms of cost and remediation efficiency depending on external constraints such as the available budget and obligatory remediation goals.

Research paper thumbnail of A multi-objective optimization framework for surfactant-enhanced remediation of DNAPL contaminations

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 2006

Surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) is widely considered a promising technique to reme... more Surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) is widely considered a promising technique to remediate dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) contaminations in-situ. The costs of a SEAR remediation are important and depend mostly on the setup of the remediation. Costs can be associated with the installation of injection and extraction wells, the required time of the remediation (and thus labor costs, lease of installations, and energy), the extracted water volume (the purification of the extracted water), and the injected surfactant amount. A costeffective design of the remediation setup allows an optimal use of resources. In this work, a SEAR remediation was simulated for a hypothetical typical DNAPL contamination. A constrained multi-objective optimization of the model was applied to obtain a Pareto set of optimal remediation strategies with different weights for the two objectives of the remediation: (i) the maximal removal of DNAPL mass (ii) with a minimal total cost. A relatively sharp Pareto front was found, showing a considerable tradeoff between DNAPL removal and total remediation costs. These Pareto curves can help decision makers select an optimal remediation strategy in terms of cost and remediation efficiency depending on external constraints such as the available budget and obligatory remediation goals.

Research paper thumbnail of Numerieke analyse van transport en degradatie van gehalogeneerde koolwaterstoffen in poreuze media

Numerieke analyse van transport en degradatie van gehalogeneerde koolwaterstoffen in poreuze media

Available from KULeuven, Campusbib. Exacte Wetenschappen, Celestijnenlaan 300A, 3001 Heverlee, Be... more Available from KULeuven, Campusbib. Exacte Wetenschappen, Celestijnenlaan 300A, 3001 Heverlee, Belgium / UCL - Université Catholique de LouvainSIGLEBEBelgiu

Research paper thumbnail of A multi-objective optimization framework for surfactant-enhanced remediation of DNAPL contaminations

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 2006

A large quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated worldwide, and its effective managem... more A large quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) is generated worldwide, and its effective management is a major problem in urban areas or particularly the areas where waste is dumped. Numerous technological alternatives are available for waste treatment, each with different costs and environmental footprints. For sustainable waste management, both economic and environmental aspects should be considered. Therefore, this study addresses the systematic design of processing routes for the sustainable management and utilization of MSW under economic and environmental criteria. To address this, a generic superstructure-based multiobjective optimization framework is developed. MSW superstructure composes of the potential processing routes for the waste management where MSW can be utilized for energy generation and other valuable waste-based products. On the basis of superstructure, we develop a multiobjective mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model that simultaneously maximizes the net profit and minimizes the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The developed optimization model is coded and solved in GAMS to determine the optimal most promising routes for the sustainable processing of MSW. A case of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is employed to test the applicability of the developed framework. The optimization results emphasize that pathway 2 shows a decent trade-off between economic and environmental objectives, whereas the two most environmentally sustainable processing pathways have the potential to reduce GHG emissions by 58% and 80%, compared with business as usual (BAU) scenario, and also possess potential economic benefits. The insights gained from this analysis guide the municipality planners to devise a promising and sustainable waste management strategy.

Research paper thumbnail of Energy Performance of Buildings: R&D policy of the regions in Belgium

Energy Performance of Buildings: R&D policy of the regions in Belgium

Research paper thumbnail of Analysis of The Impact of The Spatial Resolution of The Initial Dnapl Saturation On The Simulation of Organic Concentrations

Analysis of The Impact of The Spatial Resolution of The Initial Dnapl Saturation On The Simulation of Organic Concentrations

ABSTRACT

Research paper thumbnail of Surfactant enhanced solubilization of residual trichloroethene: An experimental and numerical analysis

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology

The ability of an aqueous polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan monooleate solution to solubilize a Ž . res... more The ability of an aqueous polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan monooleate solution to solubilize a Ž . residual trichloroethene TCE saturation, present as a trapped dense non-aqueous phase liquid Ž . DNAPL , was studied in a series of column experiments. Different flow regimes and stopflow scenarios were applied. No mobilization of the DNAPL was observed, leading to the assumption that the only recovery mechanism was a surfactant enhanced micellar solubilization of the TCE molecules. The solubilization of TCE by the surfactant solution was observed to be rate-limited under the applied conditions and the exchange rate depended on pore water velocity and volumetric DNAPL content. A phenomenological power-law model between the mass transfer rate and the pore water velocity and volumetric DNAPL content was implemented in a numerical model to describe DNAPL dissolution, advection and dispersion in the water phase. The applied model accounts for non-flow dissolution. The obtained mass transfer rate parameters provide a good fit to the experimental data also for no-flow conditions. Compared to other mass transfer rate models the obtained relationship predicts lower mass transfer rates and an intercept in case of zero flow. q .be J. Schaerlaekens . 0169-7722r00r$ -see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Research paper thumbnail of Multi objective optimization of the setup of a surfactant-enhanced DNAPL remediation

Environmental science & technology, 2005

Surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) is widely considered a promising technique to reme... more Surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) is widely considered a promising technique to remediate dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) contaminations in-situ. The costs of a SEAR remediation are important and depend mostly on the setup of the remediation. Costs can be associated with the installation of injection and extraction wells, the required time of the remediation (and thus labor costs, lease of installations, and energy), the extracted water volume (the purification of the extracted water), and the injected surfactant amount. A cost-effective design of the remediation setup allows an optimal use of resources. In this work, a SEAR remediation was simulated for a hypothetical typical DNAPL contamination. A constrained multi-objective optimization of the model was applied to obtain a Pareto set of optimal remediation strategies with different weights for the two objectives of the remediation: (i) the maximal removal of DNAPL mass (ii) with a minimal total cost. A relative...

Research paper thumbnail of Surfactant enhanced solubilization of residual trichloroethene: an experimental and numerical analysis

The ability of an aqueous polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan monooleate solution to solubilize a Ž . res... more The ability of an aqueous polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan monooleate solution to solubilize a Ž . residual trichloroethene TCE saturation, present as a trapped dense non-aqueous phase liquid Ž . DNAPL , was studied in a series of column experiments. Different flow regimes and stopflow scenarios were applied. No mobilization of the DNAPL was observed, leading to the assumption that the only recovery mechanism was a surfactant enhanced micellar solubilization of the TCE molecules. The solubilization of TCE by the surfactant solution was observed to be rate-limited under the applied conditions and the exchange rate depended on pore water velocity and volumetric DNAPL content. A phenomenological power-law model between the mass transfer rate and the pore water velocity and volumetric DNAPL content was implemented in a numerical model to describe DNAPL dissolution, advection and dispersion in the water phase. The applied model accounts for non-flow dissolution. The obtained mass transfer rate parameters provide a good fit to the experimental data also for no-flow conditions. Compared to other mass transfer rate models the obtained relationship predicts lower mass transfer rates and an intercept in case of zero flow. q .be J. Schaerlaekens . 0169-7722r00r$ -see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Research paper thumbnail of Effect of scale and dimensionality on the surfactant-enhanced solubilization of a residual DNAPL contamination

Effect of scale and dimensionality on the surfactant-enhanced solubilization of a residual DNAPL contamination

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 2004

The mass transfer rate from residual dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) to the mobile aqueo... more The mass transfer rate from residual dense non-aqueous phase liquids (DNAPLs) to the mobile aqueous phase is an important parameter for the efficiency of surfactant-enhanced remediation through solubilization of this type of contamination. The mass transfer kinetics are highly dependent on the dimensionality of the system. In this study, irregularly shaped residual TCE saturations in two-dimensional saturated flow fields were flushed with a 2% polyoxyethylene sorbitan (20) monooleate (POESMO) solution until complete removal had been achieved. A numerical model was developed and used for the simulation of the various surfactant-flushing experiments with different initial saturation patterns and flow rates. Through optimization against in situ concentration and saturation data, a phenomenological power-law model for the relationship between the mass transfer rate from the DNAPL to the mobile aqueous phase on the one hand and the residual DNAPL saturation and the flow velocity on the other hand was derived. The obtained mass transfer rate parameters provide a reasonable fit to the experimental data, predicting the cleanup time and the general saturation and concentration pattern quite well but failing to predict the concentration curves at every individual sampling port. The obtained mass transfer rate model gives smaller values for the predicted mass transfer rate but shows a comparable dependence on water flow and saturation as in earlier published one-dimensional column experiments with identical characteristics for porous medium, DNAPL and surfactant. Mass transfer rate predictions were about one order of magnitude lower in the 2-D flow cell experiment than in 1-D column experiments. These results give an indication for the importance of dimensionality during surfactant remediation.

Research paper thumbnail of Surfactant enhanced solubilization of residual trichloroethene: an experimental and numerical analysis

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 2000

The ability of an aqueous polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan monooleate solution to solubilize a Ž . res... more The ability of an aqueous polyoxyethylene 20 sorbitan monooleate solution to solubilize a Ž . residual trichloroethene TCE saturation, present as a trapped dense non-aqueous phase liquid Ž . DNAPL , was studied in a series of column experiments. Different flow regimes and stopflow scenarios were applied. No mobilization of the DNAPL was observed, leading to the assumption that the only recovery mechanism was a surfactant enhanced micellar solubilization of the TCE molecules. The solubilization of TCE by the surfactant solution was observed to be rate-limited under the applied conditions and the exchange rate depended on pore water velocity and volumetric DNAPL content. A phenomenological power-law model between the mass transfer rate and the pore water velocity and volumetric DNAPL content was implemented in a numerical model to describe DNAPL dissolution, advection and dispersion in the water phase. The applied model accounts for non-flow dissolution. The obtained mass transfer rate parameters provide a good fit to the experimental data also for no-flow conditions. Compared to other mass transfer rate models the obtained relationship predicts lower mass transfer rates and an intercept in case of zero flow. q .be J. Schaerlaekens . 0169-7722r00r$ -see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Research paper thumbnail of Numerical simulation of transport and sequential biodegradation of chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons using CHAIN_2D

Hydrological Processes, 1999

Microbiological degradation of perchloroethylene (PCE) under anaerobic conditions follows a serie... more Microbiological degradation of perchloroethylene (PCE) under anaerobic conditions follows a series of chain reactions, in which, sequentially, trichloroethylene (TCE), cis-dichloroethylene (c-DCE), vinylchloride (VC) and ethene are generated. First-order degradation rate constants, partitioning coecients and mass exchange rates for PCE, TCE, c-DCE and VC were compiled from the literature. The parameters were used in a case study of pump-and-treat remediation of a PCE-contaminated site near Tilburg, The Netherlands. Transport, non-equilibrium sorption and biodegradation chain processes at the site were simulated using the CHAIN_2D code without further calibration. The modelled PCE compared reasonably well with observed PCE concentrations in the pumped water. We also performed a scenario analysis by applying several increased reductive dechlorination rates, re¯ecting dierent degradation conditions (e.g. addition of yeast extract and citrate). The scenario analysis predicted considerably higher concentrations of the degradation products as a result of enhanced reductive dechlorination of PCE. The predicted levels of the very toxic compound VC were now an order of magnitude above the maximum permissible concentration levels.

Research paper thumbnail of Multi-Objective Optimization of the Setup of a Surfactant-Enhanced DNAPL Remediation

Environmental Science & Technology, 2005

Surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) is widely considered a promising technique to reme... more Surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) is widely considered a promising technique to remediate dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) contaminations in-situ. The costs of a SEAR remediation are important and depend mostly on the setup of the remediation. Costs can be associated with the installation of injection and extraction wells, the required time of the remediation (and thus labor costs, lease of installations, and energy), the extracted water volume (the purification of the extracted water), and the injected surfactant amount. A costeffective design of the remediation setup allows an optimal use of resources. In this work, a SEAR remediation was simulated for a hypothetical typical DNAPL contamination. A constrained multi-objective optimization of the model was applied to obtain a Pareto set of optimal remediation strategies with different weights for the two objectives of the remediation: (i) the maximal removal of DNAPL mass (ii) with a minimal total cost. A relatively sharp Pareto front was found, showing a considerable tradeoff between DNAPL removal and total remediation costs. These Pareto curves can help decision makers select an optimal remediation strategy in terms of cost and remediation efficiency depending on external constraints such as the available budget and obligatory remediation goals.

Research paper thumbnail of A multi-objective optimization framework for surfactant-enhanced remediation of DNAPL contaminations

Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 2006

Surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) is widely considered a promising technique to reme... more Surfactant-enhanced aquifer remediation (SEAR) is widely considered a promising technique to remediate dense nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) contaminations in-situ. The costs of a SEAR remediation are important and depend mostly on the setup of the remediation. Costs can be associated with the installation of injection and extraction wells, the required time of the remediation (and thus labor costs, lease of installations, and energy), the extracted water volume (the purification of the extracted water), and the injected surfactant amount. A costeffective design of the remediation setup allows an optimal use of resources. In this work, a SEAR remediation was simulated for a hypothetical typical DNAPL contamination. A constrained multi-objective optimization of the model was applied to obtain a Pareto set of optimal remediation strategies with different weights for the two objectives of the remediation: (i) the maximal removal of DNAPL mass (ii) with a minimal total cost. A relatively sharp Pareto front was found, showing a considerable tradeoff between DNAPL removal and total remediation costs. These Pareto curves can help decision makers select an optimal remediation strategy in terms of cost and remediation efficiency depending on external constraints such as the available budget and obligatory remediation goals.