Effective Vertical Solute Transport in Soils by Artificial Macropore System
Publication: Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 18, Issue 2
Abstract
Solute transport is an important factor governing soil environmental processes, such as effective fertilizer application or dispersion areas of remediation chemicals for contaminated soils. Macropores are ubiquitous in soils. In unsaturated conditions, they enhance air intrusion into soils, thus reducing the chances of clogging and surface ponding. However, their structure is hard to maintain, and they tend to collapse during long-term infiltration. In this experiment, macropore fillings were introduced into the pores to maintain their structure. Solute transport experiments were conducted for four soils with no macropores, empty macropores, macropores with paper towel fillings, and macropores with glass fiber fillings. The macropores with fillings worked as water pathways that conducted solutions to the deeper profile without saturation at the surface, thus avoiding clogging. When bio-remediation experiments were conducted using these four soil columns, soil columns with glass fiber fillings maintained 0.6–0.8 of the saturated water content, which was found to enhance biological activity. The resultant bio-remediation was best for glass fiber fillings because artificial macropores with fibrous fillings maintained a macropore structure, which gave a stable infiltration rate for 30 days.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the master and bachelor-degree students who supported the flow experiment, which began in 2007. This work was partially supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, NEXT program (GS021) 2011–2014, and a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C), 18510074, 2006–2008. The authors are also grateful to the Japan Science and Technology Agency, Research for Promoting Technological Seeds, 2009.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 18 • Issue 2 • April 2014
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 11, 2012
Accepted: Feb 22, 2013
Published online: Feb 25, 2013
Published in print: Apr 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Jun 7, 2014
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