Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

A complex pattern of coupling between fluid flow and mass transport develops when heterogeneous reactions occur. For instance, dissolution and precipitation reactions can change the physical properties of a medium, such as permeability and pore geometry. These changes influence fluid flow, which in turn impact the composition of dissolved constituents and solid-phase, and the rate and direction of advective transport. Two-dimensional modeling studies using TOUGHREACT were conducted to investigate the coupling between flow and transport developed as a consequence of difference in density, dissolution/precipitation, and medium heterogeneity. The model includes equilibrium reactions for aqueous species, kinetic reactions between the solid phases and aqueous constituents, and full coupling of porosity and permeability changes resulting from precipitation and dissolution reactions in porous media. Generally, the evolutions in the concentrations of the aqueous phase are intimately related to the reaction-front dynamics. Plugging of the medium contributed to significant transients in patterns of flow and mass transport.