Multicomponent equilibrium chemistry in groundwater quality models

Abstract

A technique is described for modeling the groundwater transport of a multicomponent solution of metals and ligands. By this method both soluble complexation and competitive sorption among chemical species may be accommodated. A finite element solution is presented for an arbitrary number of components. It is shown that although this technique leads to strongly nonlinear equations, accurate solutions may still be achieved. It is also shown that the interaction mechanisms modeled can have significant impact on the transport potential of solution components.