Physical factors affecting the transport and fate of colloids in saturated porous media

Saturated soil column experiments were conducted to explore the influence of colloid size and soil grain size distribution characteristics on the transport and fate of colloid particles in saturated porous media. Stable monodispersed colloids and porous media that are negatively charged were employed in these studies. Effluent colloid concentration curves and the final spatial distribution of retained colloids by the porous media were found to be highly dependent on the colloid size and soil grain size distribution. Relative peak effluent concentrations decreased and surface mass removal by the soil increased when the colloid size increased and the soil median grain size decreased. These observations were…