Yuniati Zevi

Transport and Retention Mechanisms of Colloids in Partially Saturated Porous Media

The transport, retention, and release of hydrophobic and hydrophilic polystyrene latex microsphere colloids were examined in 0.5-cm-thick, 26-cm-long slab chambers filled with either regular (hydrophilic) or weakly water-repellent sand. The water-repellent sand consisted of a mixture of 0.4% strongly water-repellent grains with unmodified regular sand for the remainder. The concentration of colloids in the outflow water was measured at the same time as the pore-scale distribution of colloids was recorded in still and video images. Although the type of sand affected the flow pattern in the top of the chamber, it did not affect the breakthrough for the same type of colloids. More hydrophilic colloids were eluted in the drainage water than hydrophobic colloids. Images showed that there was a greater retention of the hydrophobic colloids due to strongly attractive hydrophobic interaction forces between colloids and subsequent filtering of colloidal aggregates in the narrow passages between grains. Once filtered, these aggregates then served as preferred sites for attachment of other hydrophobic colloids. The hydrophilic colloids were retained primarily in a thin film of water at the edge of the menisci, the air–water–solid (AWS) interface. Centrifugal motion within the pendular rings observed in the videos contributed to movement of the colloids toward the AWS interface, where colloids were retained due to both low laminar flow velocities near the grain surface and straining in the thin water film at the edge of the meniscus. Except near the solid interface, sorption at the air–water (AW) interface was not observed and appeared unimportant to the retention of colloids. The findings form an essential link between colloid retention and transport processes at the interfacial, pore, and Darcy scales.

Pore-Scale Visualization of Colloid Transport and Retention in Partly Saturated Porous Media

In unsaturated porous media, sorption of colloids at the air–water (AW) interface is accepted as a mechanism for controlling colloid retention and mobilization. However, limited actual pore-scale observations of colloid attachment to the AW interface have been made. To further investigate these processes, a real-time pore-scale visualization method was developed. The method builds on the light transmission technique for fingered flow studies in packed-sand infiltration chambers and combines it with high-resolution, electro-optical hardware and public domain imaging software. Infiltration and drainage of suspensions of hydrophilic negatively charged carboxylated latex microspheres provides compelling visual evidence that colloid retention in sandy porous media occurs via trapping in the thin film of water where the AW interface and the solid interface meet, the air–water–solid (AWS) interface. With this modified theory of trapped colloids at the AWS interface, we are able to explain the apparent discrepancy between previous experimental evidence of hydrophilic colloids seemingly partitioning to the AW interface and more recent findings that suggest this type of colloid does not adsorb at the AW interface.

Quantifying colloid retention in partially saturated porous media

[1] The transport of colloid-contaminant complexes and colloid-sized pathogens through soil to groundwater is of concern. Visualization and quantification of pore-scale colloid behavior will enable better description and simulation of retention mechanisms at individual surfaces, in contrast to breakthrough curves which only provide an integrated signal. We tested two procedures for quantifying colloid movement and retention as observed in pore-scale image sequences. After initial testing with static images, three series of images of synthetic microbead suspensions passing through unsaturated sand were examined. The region procedure (implemented in ImageJ) and the Boolean procedure (implemented in KS400) yielded nearly identical results for initial test images and for total colloid-covered areas in three image series. Because of electronic noise resulting in pixel-level brightness fluctuations the Boolean procedure tended to underestimate attached colloid counts and conversely overestimate mobile colloid counts. The region procedure had a smaller overestimation error of attached colloids. Reliable quantification of colloid retention at pore scale can be used to improve current understanding on the transport mechanisms of colloids in unsaturated porous media. For example, attachment counts at individual air/water meniscus/solid interface were well described by Langmuir isotherms.

Colloid retention at the meniscus-wall contact line in an open microchannel

Colloid retention mechanisms in partially saturated porous media are currently being researched with an array of visualization techniques. These visualization techniques have refined our understanding of colloid movement and retention at the pore scale beyond what can be obtained from breakthrough experiments. One of the remaining questions is what mechanisms are responsible for colloid immobilization at the triple point where air, water, and soil grain meet. The objective of this study was to investigate how colloids are transported to the air-water-solid (AWS) contact line in an open triangular microchannel, and then retained as a function of meniscus contact angle with the wall and solution ionic strength. Colloid flow path, meniscus shape and meniscus-wall contact angle, and colloid retention at the AWS contact line were visualized and quantified with a confocal microscope. Experimental results demonstrated that colloid retention at the AWS contact line was significant when the meniscus-wall contact angle was less than 16°, but was minimal for the meniscus-wall contact angles exceeding 20°. Tracking of individual colloids and computational hydrodynamic simulation both revealed that for small contact angles (e.g., 12.5°), counter flow and flow vortices formed near the AWS contact line, but not for large contact angles (e.g., 28°). This counter flow helped deliver the colloids to the wall surface just below the contact line. In accordance with DLVO and hydrodynamic torque calculations, colloid movement may be stopped when the colloid reached the secondary minimum at the wall near the contact line. However, contradictory to the prediction of the torque analysis, colloid retention at the AWS contact line decreased with increasing ionic strength for contact angles of 10-20°, indicating that the air-water interface was involved through both counter flow and capillary force. We hypothesized that capillary force pushed the colloid through the primary energy barrier to the primary minimum to become immobilized, when small fluctuations in water level stretched the meniscus over the colloid. For large meniscus-wall contact angles counter flow was not observed, resulting in less colloid retention, because a smaller number of colloids were transported to the contact line.

Biocolloid retention in partially saturated soils

Unsaturated soils are considered excellent filters for preventing the transport of pathogenic biocolloids to groundwater, but little is known about the actual mechanisms of biocolloid retention. To obtain a better understanding of these processes, a number of visualization experiments were performed and analyzed.

Functional models for colloid retention in porous media at the triple line

Spectral confocal microscope visualizations of microsphere movement in unsaturated porous media showed that attachment at the Air Water Solid (AWS) interface was an important retention mechanism. These visualizations can aid in resolving the functional form of retention rates of colloids at the AWS interface. In this study, soil adsorption isotherm equations were adapted by replacing the chemical concentration in the water as independent variable by the cumulative colloids passing by. In order of increasing number of fitted parameters, the functions tested were the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, the Logistic distribution, and the Weibull distribution. The functions were fitted against colloid concentrations obtained from time series of images acquired with a spectral confocal microscope for three experiments performed where either plain or carboxylated polystyrene latex microspheres were pulsed in a small flow chamber filled with cleaned quartz sand. Both moving and retained colloids were quantified over time. In fitting the models to the data, the agreement improved with increasing number of model parameters. The Weibull distribution gave overall the best fit. The logistic distribution did not fit the initial retention of microspheres well but otherwise the fit was good. The Langmuir isotherm only fitted the longest time series well. The results can be explained that initially when colloids are first introduced the rate of retention is low. Once colloids are at the AWS interface they act as anchor point for other colloids to attach and thereby increasing the retention rate as clusters form. Once the available attachment sites diminish, the retention rate decreases.