Short Course “Transport of Viruses and colloids in variably-saturated porous media”

This short course is organised by the InterPore Academy and takes place from 11 - 15 October 2021.

General Information

Date: 11 - 15 October 2021
Time: from 3 pm to 6 pm CET

online short course

This short course is organised in collaboration with InterPore

Members and associated international members of SFB 1313 and IRTG DROPIT are invited to attend the short course. Participants will get 1,5 credits for attending the course.

Interpore members: 100 € students, 150 € academic, 200 € industry

Interpore non-members: 125 € students, 190 € academic, 300 € industry

Understanding transport of colloids (microorganisms, clays, nanoparticles, etc.) during (transient) flow in (variably) saturated porous media is very important in a number of applications. Important examples are drinking water production (well clogging, deep bed filtration, groundwater recharge, removal viruses by passing water through soil), oil production (formation damage), design and management and remediation projects. Some colloids are considered as contaminants (such as viruses, bacteria, some nanoparticles); some others act as carriers of contaminants that may adsorb onto and migrate with colloids (this is known as colloid-facilitated transport).

In this short course, we discuss processes that affect the fate of colloids at various scale (molecular, grain/pore, and REV scales). In particular, surface-surface interactions, colloid filtration theory, removal mechanisms and all factors that affect attachment/detachment will be discussed. We will also present principles of virus transport in soil. Special attention will be given to the transport in unsaturated soil and two-phase flow under transient flow conditions. Results of a large number of laboratory and field experiments under both saturated and unsaturated conditions, for the study of movement of viruses and colloids through soil will be presented.

Knowledge of groundwater flow and (nonreactive) solute transport is required.

  • Introduction (what are colloids, applications, DLVO theory, colloid filtration theory) – 3 hours
  • Short overview of flow and solute transport in soil and groundwater – 1 hour
  • Removal of viruses from water by means of soil passage; Field studies in The Netherlands – 1 hour
  • Laboratory studies of virus transport; batch experiments; column experiments – 2 hours
  • Effect of water properties (pH, ionic strength, and temperature) on virus removal – 1 hour
  • Study of virus and colloid transport under unsaturated conditions;the effect of water saturation; Theory and experiments – 2 hours
  • Study of virus and colloid transport under unsaturated conditions and two-phase flow; the effect of transient conditions (change of saturation and/or composition) – 3 hours
  • Co-transport of contaminants by colloids under saturated/unsaturated conditions – 2 hours
Prof. Majid Hassanizadeh, Utrecht University and University of Stuttgart

Lecturer

The short course is given by Majid Hassanizadeh (Utrecht University, The Netherlands / University of Stuttgart).

Prof. Hassanizadeh is an Emeritus Professor of Hydrogeology at the Faculty of Geosciences of Utrecht University and SFB 1313 senior professor and external partner of the University of Stuttgart. His recent appointments have been: Professor at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology (2001-2003), and Professor at Utrecht University (2004-2018). He was the editor of Advances in Water Resources from 1991 till 2001. He is now on the editorial boards of Transport in Porous Media (since 1989), Journal of Porous Media (since 2009), among others. He co-founded the International Society for Porous Media (InterPore) in 2008, and has been Managing Director of InterPore since then. He has organized more than 50 conferences, workshops, and short courses, and has been invited or keynote speaker in a large number of international meetings.  He is elected Fellow of American Geophysical Union (2002), elected Fellow of American Association for Advancement of Science (2007); has received honorary degree of Doctor-Ingenieur from Stuttgart University (2008); and is a recipient of von Humboldt Prize (2010) and Don and Betty Kirkham Soil Physics Award from SSSA (2011). He was selected as 2012 Darcy Lecturer by the US National Groundwater Association (2011). He was awarded a research grant of 2.3 MEuro by the European Research Council (2013). He is recipient of Royal medal of honor of The Netherlands, Ridder in de Orde van Nederlandse Leeuw (Knight in the Order of Netherlands Lion), July 2015, and recipient of Robbert E. Horton Medal from American Geophysical Union (2019).

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