Microbially mediated kinetic sulfur isotope fractionation

reactive transport modeling benchmark

Journal Article (2020)
Author(s)

Yiwei Cheng (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

Bhavna Arora (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

S. Sevinç Şengör (Middle East Technical University)

Jennifer L. Druhan (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign)

Christoph Wanner (University of Bern)

Boris M. van Breukelen (TU Delft - Sanitary Engineering)

Carl I. Steefel (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

Research Group
Sanitary Engineering
Copyright
© 2020 Yiwei Cheng, Bhavna Arora, S. Sevinç Şengör, Jennifer L. Druhan, Christoph Wanner, B.M. van Breukelen, Carl I. Steefel
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10596-020-09988-9
More Info
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Publication Year
2020
Language
English
Copyright
© 2020 Yiwei Cheng, Bhavna Arora, S. Sevinç Şengör, Jennifer L. Druhan, Christoph Wanner, B.M. van Breukelen, Carl I. Steefel
Research Group
Sanitary Engineering
Issue number
4
Volume number
25 (2021)
Pages (from-to)
1379-1391
Reuse Rights

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Abstract

Microbially mediated sulfate reduction is a ubiquitous process in many subsurface systems. Isotopic fractionation is characteristic of this anaerobic process, since sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) favor the reduction of the lighter sulfate isotopologue (S32O42−) over the heavier isotopologue (S34O42−). Detection of isotopic shifts has been utilized as a proxy for the onset of sulfate reduction in subsurface systems such as oil reservoirs and aquifers undergoing heavy metal and radionuclide bioremediation. Reactive transport modeling (RTM) of kinetic sulfur isotope fractionation has been applied to field and laboratory studies. We developed a benchmark problem set for the simulation of kinetic sulfur isotope fractionation during microbially mediated sulfate reduction. The benchmark problem set is comprised of three problem levels and is based on a large-scale laboratory column experimental study of organic carbon amended sulfate reduction in soils from a uranium-contaminated aquifer. Pertinent processes impacting sulfur isotopic composition such as microbial sulfate reduction and iron-sulfide reactions are included in the problem set. This benchmark also explores the different mathematical formulations in the representation of kinetic sulfur isotope fractionation as employed in the different RTMs. Participating RTM codes are the following: CrunchTope, TOUGHREACT, PHREEQC, and PHT3D. Across all problem levels, simulation results from all RTMs demonstrate reasonable agreement.

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