Chlorinated solvents source identification by nonlinear optimization method.

In this work, chloride ions were used as conservative tracers and supplemented with conservative amounts of chloroethenes (PCE, TCE, Cis-DCE, 1,1-DCE), chloroethanes (1,1,1-TCA, 1,1-DCA), and the carbon isotope ratios of certain compounds, the most representative on the sites studied, which is a novelty compared to the optimization methods developed in the scientific literature so far. A location of the potential missing sources is then proposed in view of the balances of the calculated mixing fractions. A test of the influence of measurement errors on the results shows that the uncertainties in the calculation of the mixture fractions are less than 11%, indicating that the source identification method developed is a robust tool for identifying sources of chlorinated solvents in groundwater.