Lecture

Water Quality Modeling: Kinetics in PHREEQC

Graph Chat

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.

In course

ENG-400: Water quality modeling

This course builds on environmental chemistry and microbiology taken in previous courses. The emphasis is on quantification using the public domain package, PHREEQC, which is an excellent computation tool. Numerous applications are investigated during the ...

Description

This lecture covers the modeling of kinetics in water quality using PHREEQC software. It explains reaction rates, equilibrium constants, half-life calculations, and residence times in the hydrosphere. Various reaction types and their activation energies are discussed, along with the effect of temperature on reaction rates. Examples of calcite precipitation and ferrous iron oxidation are presented, showing the dependence on pH. The lecture concludes with references to key publications in the field.

Instructor

David Andrew Barry

Research InterestsSubsurface hydrology, constructed wetlands, ecological engineering, in particular contaminant transport and remediation of soil and groundwater; more generally, models of hydrological and vadose zone processes; application of mathematical methods to hydrological processes; coastal zone sediment transport, aquifer-coastal ocean interactions; hydrodynamics and modelling of lakes.

Official source

Related concepts (32)

Equilibrium constant

The equilibrium constant of a chemical reaction is the value of its reaction quotient at chemical equilibrium, a state approached by a dynamic chemical system after sufficient time has elapsed at which its composition has no measurable tendency towards further change. For a given set of reaction conditions, the equilibrium constant is independent of the initial analytical concentrations of the reactant and product species in the mixture.

Calcite sea

A calcite sea is a sea in which low-magnesium calcite is the primary inorganic marine calcium carbonate precipitate. An aragonite sea is the alternate seawater chemistry in which aragonite and high-magnesium calcite are the primary inorganic carbonate precipitates. The Early Paleozoic and the Middle to Late Mesozoic oceans were predominantly calcite seas, whereas the Middle Paleozoic through the Early Mesozoic and the Cenozoic (including today) are characterized by aragonite seas.

Chemical equilibrium

In a chemical reaction, chemical equilibrium is the state in which both the reactants and products are present in concentrations which have no further tendency to change with time, so that there is no observable change in the properties of the system. This state results when the forward reaction proceeds at the same rate as the reverse reaction. The reaction rates of the forward and backward reactions are generally not zero, but they are equal. Thus, there are no net changes in the concentrations of the reactants and products.

Calcite

Calcite is a carbonate mineral and the most stable polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness, based on scratch hardness comparison. Large calcite crystals are used in optical equipment, and limestone composed mostly of calcite has numerous uses. Other polymorphs of calcium carbonate are the minerals aragonite and vaterite.

Chemical kinetics

Chemical kinetics, also known as reaction kinetics, is the branch of physical chemistry that is concerned with understanding the rates of chemical reactions. It is different from chemical thermodynamics, which deals with the direction in which a reaction occurs but in itself tells nothing about its rate. Chemical kinetics includes investigations of how experimental conditions influence the speed of a chemical reaction and yield information about the reaction's mechanism and transition states, as well as the construction of mathematical models that also can describe the characteristics of a chemical reaction.

Related lectures (64)

Second Law of Thermodynamics

Explores the Second Law of Thermodynamics, Gibbs Free Energy, equilibrium constants, and Le Châtelier's Principle.

Chemical Equilibrium: Principles and Applications

Explores chemical equilibrium principles, including Le Châtelier's Principle and equilibrium constants, and discusses the influence of temperature, pressure, and concentration on equilibrium shifts.

Solutions: Concentration and Enthalpy

Explores solutions, concentration units, enthalpy of dissolution, reaction kinetics, and factors affecting reaction rates.

Reversible Reactions: Kinetics and Equilibrium

Explores reversible reactions, equilibrium, energy barriers, and reaction rates based on concentration and temperature effects.

Chemical Equilibrium: Reaction Mechanisms