Michel C. Boufadel

Bio: Michel C. Boufadel is an academic researcher from New Jersey Institute of Technology. The author has contributed to research in topics: Dispersant & Plume. The author has an hindex of 39, co-authored 221 publications receiving 4493 citations. Previous affiliations of Michel C. Boufadel include Clemson University & Temple University.

Long-term persistence of oil from the Exxon Valdez spill in two-layer beaches

Abstract: Oil spilt from the tanker Exxon Valdez more than 20 years ago still persists in the gravel beaches of Prince William Sound, Alaska. Field data and numerical modelling indicate that some of the oil was trapped in the anoxic environment of the lower layers of the beaches when the water table was low. Oil spilled from the tanker Exxon Valdez in 1989 (refs 1, 2) persists in the subsurface of gravel beaches in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The contamination includes considerable amounts of chemicals that are harmful to the local fauna3. However, remediation of the beaches was stopped in 1992, because it was assumed that the disappearance rate of oil was large enough to ensure a complete removal of oil within a few years. Here we present field data and numerical simulations of a two-layered beach with a small freshwater recharge in the contaminated area, where a high-permeability upper layer is underlain by a low-permeability lower layer. We find that the upper layer temporarily stored the oil, while it slowly and continuously filled the lower layer wherever the water table dropped below the interface of the two layers, as a result of low freshwater recharge from the land. Once the oil entered the lower layer, it became entrapped by capillary forces and persisted there in nearly anoxic conditions that are a result of the tidal hydraulics in the two-layered beaches. We suggest that similar dynamics could operate on tidal gravel beaches around the world, which are particularly common in mid- and high-latitude regions4,5, with implications for locating spilled oil and for its biological remediation.

A mechanistic study of nonlinear solute transport in a groundwater–surface water system Under steady state and transient hydraulic conditions

Abstract: Two laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of tides and buoyancy on beach hydraulics in the presence of a seaward groundwater flow due to an elevated “regional” water table. In the first experiment, case 1, the difference in concentration between the salt water at sea and the water of the regional aquifer was small, 2.4 g L−1, such that it did not engender density gradients; the salt acts as a tracer in this case. In the second experiment, case 2, the difference was ∼32.0 g L−1, which creates a significant density gradient. This case corresponds to the presence of fresh groundwater in the subsurface of the coasts of the continental United States. The experiments were numerically simulated by the marine unsaturated (MARUN) model, a numerical model for density-and-viscosity-dependent flows in two-dimensional variably saturated media. The long-term experimental and numerical results showed that the seawater plume entered the beach from the sea and occupied most of the intertidal zone. The maximum depth of the seawater plume was near the midsection of the intertidal zone, and it decreased near the low and high tide lines. When viewed in the context of case 2, these results indicate an inverted salinity distribution in beaches subjected to tides with salt water from sea overtopping the freshwater lens. For both cases, water from the regional aquifer moved seaward beneath the seawater in the intertidal zone and pinched out near the low tide mark. We also noted that beach hydraulics are highly two dimensional with water entering the beach at a near-vertical angle and leaving it at a near-horizontal angle, which casts doubts on analyses of beach hydraulics based on the Dupuit assumption. Findings from this work have direct implications within the practice of bioremediation of oil spills on beaches. We found that applying dissolved nutrients on the beach surface at low tide is superior to applying them in a trench landward of the beach. This is because the residence time of the nutrient plume in the bioremediation zone of the beach in the prior situation is longer than that in the latter.

American Society for Testing and Materials

Abstract: The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) is an independent organization devoted to the development of standards.

Recent Advances in Petroleum Microbiology

Abstract: Recent advances in molecular biology have extended our understanding of the metabolic processes related to microbial transformation of petroleum hydrocarbons. The physiological responses of microorganisms to the presence of hydrocarbons, including cell surface alterations and adaptive mechanisms for uptake and efflux of these substrates, have been characterized. New molecular techniques have enhanced our ability to investigate the dynamics of microbial communities in petroleum-impacted ecosystems. By establishing conditions which maximize rates and extents of microbial growth, hydrocarbon access, and transformation, highly accelerated and bioreactor-based petroleum waste degradation processes have been implemented. Biofilters capable of removing and biodegrading volatile petroleum contaminants in air streams with short substrate-microbe contact times ( 2 S and sulfoxides from petrochemical waste streams. Microbes also have potential for use in removal of nitrogen from crude oil leading to reduced nitric oxide emissions provided that technical problems similar to those experienced in biodesulfurization can be solved. Enzymes are being exploited to produce added-value products from petroleum substrates, and bacterial biosensors are being used to analyze petroleum-contaminated environments.