Modelling dependence of chlorinated hydrocarbons biodegradation on changes of temperature and redox conditions in ATES sytems

The Aquifer Thermal energy Storage (ATES) system is one of the most important techniques, that use the aquifer as an energy storage for heating and cooling the buildings. The operation of the ATES system is based on pumping the cold ground water into the buildings during the summer and then injecting the warmer water back into the aquifer. During the winter, the direction is reversed. Warm water is pumped to the buildings, where it serves for the heating system and then it is injected back into the aquifer. The ATES system has a main effect on the chemical composition of ground water, because of changes in the temperature of ground water, mixing of water from different redox zone and increasing of ground water flow in the neighbourhood of the wells of the ATES system. The modification in chemical composition and temperature could influence the behaviour of contaminants. If we want to install the ATES system into a contaminated aquifer, we have to know, if the ATES system would influence the behaviour of the contaminant plume positively or negatively. This study was made to increase the understanding of the dependence between changes of temperature and oxidation-reduction conditions in the ATES system and biodegradation of chlorinated hydrocarbons. In the first part, several scenarios were modelled..