Reactive solute transport in macroscopically homogeneous porous media: analytical solutions for the temporal moments

In this work, we investigate one-dimensional solute transport affected by rate-limited sorption, first-order mass transfer, and first-order transformation. Analytical expressions are obtained for the temporal moments of the solute in the solution phase. The effect of various rate coefficients on the temporal moments is examined. It was found that, in the presence of transformation reactions, the mean arrival time, and the spread and skewness of the breakthrough curves, are not monotonic functions of the rate coefficients. These solutions will be useful as a preliminary analysis tool for ascertaining the relative importance of various processes under given conditions. They may also be used to analyze the accuracy of various numerical techniques used for simulation of reactive transport.