Abstract: A coupled optimal control and simulation model is
presented that selects injection and extraction well sites and pumping
rates for cost-effective in-situ bioremediation design. Application of
the model to a hypothetical site identified a number of findings that may
be useful for improving in-situ bioremediation design: (1)As with
pump-and-treat design, time-varying pumping strategies for in-situ
bioremediation are significantly less expensive than time-invariant
pumping strategies, despite the typically shorter duration of in-situ
bioremediation; (2)when expensive oxygen sources are used for oxygen
injection, downgradient extraction pumping is used in lieu of extensive
injection pumping to pull the oxygen across the contaminant plume; (3)when
biodegradation rates are limited by mass transfer, expensive oxygen
sources may not be worth the added expense; (4)longer cleanups
significantly reduce pumping costs by exploiting natural transport and
degradation processes; (5)prespecified potential well locations have a
significant effect on model results; and (6)optimal pumping strategies
with high levels of contaminant adsorption alternated between higher and
lower levels of pumping.