The aim of the present research is to study the dissolution and transport process of
benzene as a light nonaqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) in saturated porous media.
Unidirectional flow at water velocities ranged from 0.90 to 3.60 cm/hr was adopted to study
this process in a three dimensional saturated sand tank (100 cm×40 cm×35 cm). This tank
represents a laboratory-scale aquifer. The aquifer was constructed by packing homogeneous
sand in the rectangular tank. The experimental results were used to characterize the
dissolution behavior of an entrapped nonaqueous phase benzene source in a three dimensional
aquifer model. The time invariant average mass transfer coefficient was determined at each
interstitial velocity, the values of this coefficient were ranged from 0.016 to 0.061 cm/hr. It
was increased proportionally with velocity toward a limiting value. The results show that the
concentration of the LNAPL reduces as the distance increased in x and/or z direction from the
source of pollution. In most cases the benzene concentration declines with velocity more than
2.34 cm/hr at downstream of the LNAPL pool.
