Interplay of Natural Organic Matter with Flow Rate and Particle Size on Colloid Transport: Experimentation, Visualization, and Modeling.

The investigation on factors that affect the impact of natural organic matter (NOM) on colloid transport in complex hydraulic flow systems remains incomplete. Using our previously established approach, the interplay of flow rate and particle size on the NOM effect was quantified, using flow rates of 1 and 2 mL/min and particle sizes of 50 and 200 nm to represent small nanoparticles (1-100 nm) and large non-nano-microspheres (100-1000 nm) in the low-flow groundwater environment. Latex particles, Suwannee River humic acid (SRHA), and iron oxide-coated sand were used as model particles, NOM, and the aquifer medium, respectively. The quantitative results show NOM blocked more sites for large particles at a high flow rate: 1 μg of SRHA blocked 5.95 × 10(9) microsphere deposition sites at 2 mL/min but only 7.38 × 10(8) nanoparticle deposition sites at 1 mL/min. The particle size effect dominated over the flow rate, and the overall effect of the two is antagonistic. Granule-scale visualization of the particle packing on the NOM-presented sand surface corroborates the quantification results, revealing a more dispersed status of large particles at a high flow rate. We interpret this phenomenon as a polydispersivity effect resulting from the differential size of the particles and NOM: high flow and a high particle size enlarge the ratio of particle-blocked to NOM-blocked areas and thus the NOM blockage. To our knowledge, this is the first model-assisted quantification on the interplay of NOM, flow rate, and particle size on colloid transport. These findings are significant for nanorisk assessment and nanoremediation practices.