Computational and Theoretical Polymer Science Vol. 8, No. 3/4, pp.

331±338, 1998
# 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S1089-3156(98)00040-3 0189-3156/98/$Ðsee front matter

Effect of the thickness of food packages

made of recycled and virgin polymer layers
coextruded in sandwich form on the time of
food protection
A. L. Perou, S. Laoubi and J. M. Vergnaud*
Laboratory of Materials and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, University of
Saint-Etienne, 23, Dr. P. Michelon, 42023 Saint-Etienne, France
(Received 30 December 1997; accepted 4 March 1998)

Reusing old polymer as new food packages is a vast ecological objective. From the scienti®cal point of
view various problems must be resolved for ensuring the food safety. Thus the new food packages are in
sandwich form where the recycled polymer layer with potential contaminant is located between two virgin
polymer layers. The main problem arising is the prediction of the time of food protection. A contaminant
transfer occurs during the coextrusion process through the package, being responsible for a decrease in
this time of food protection. The e€ect of the thickness of the package is especially considered. It appears
during the coextrusion process because the cooling period of the package strongly increases with the
thickness; it also plays a role in the contaminant transfer through the package and into food. The process
of contaminant transfer is studied not only during the coextrusion stage, but also with the food-package
system. The e€ect of the thickness of the package on the time of food protection is especially studied.
# 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

(Keywords: food safety; polymer package; recycling; tri-layer package; processing; heat and mass transfers)

NOMENCLATURE MC Dimensionless number in heat convection

Mt Amount of contaminant transferred after
A Coecient in equation (6)054 time t

x Increment of space Min Amount of contaminant initially in the

t Increment of time recycled polymer layer
c Heat capacity of the polymer R Dimensionless number in mass transfer
C Concentration of contaminant by di€usion
Cs;t Contaminant concentration on the sur- P Dimensionless number in mass transfer
face of the package at time t by convection
Cfood;t Uniform contaminant concentration in  Density of the polymer
the food at time t t Time
D Di€usivity T Temperature
DT Di€usivity at temperature T Ts;t Temperature at the surface of the poly-
D0 Coecient in equation (6) mer at time t, during coextrusion
ht Coecient of convective heat transfer Tair Temperature of air
hm Coecient of convective mass transfer x Abscissa through the polymer thickness
l Thermal conductivity of the polymer
L Thickness of the package
L0 Thickness of the food INTRODUCTION
i Integer characterising position in the
package As already shown, recycling old polymer as new
j Integer characterising time food packages is a desired purpose from the eco-
MH Dimensionless number in heat conduc- logical and perhaps also from the economical point
tion of view1±4. In spite of various problems which
arise, this objective is induced by the Food and
*To whom correspondence should be addressed Drug Administration in the USA and the European

COMP. AND THEOR. POLYMER SCIENCE Volume 8 Number 3/4 1998 331
Effect of food package thickness on the time of food protection: A. L. Perou et al.
Communities5±7. However, as the recycled polymer
is potentially contaminated from its previous use,
the new food package must be made of tri-layer
polymers, the recycled polymer layer being located
between two virgin polymer layers7±9. The transfer
process of contaminant in the food-package system
is controlled by di€usion through the package10,11
and either by convection into the liquid food12
or di€usion through the solid food13,14. As it
takes time for the contaminant to di€use through
the virgin polymer layer located between the recy-
cled polymer and the food, this virgin polymer
layer plays the role of a functional barrier to food
contamination.
The main problem which arises is the prediction
of this time of food protection. It can be deter-
mined either by highly time-consuming experi-
ments or by calculation. The mathematical
treatment is feasible for the transfer through the
package alone when the di€usivity is constant10,11.
When the package is in contact with the liquid
food, with a ®nite coecient of convective transfer
in the liquid next to the package surface, a numer-
ical treatment is necessary12,13, in spite of an
attempt to mix the equations obtained on one hand
with an in®nite volume of liquid and a ®nite coef-
®cient of convective transfer and on the other hand
with a ®nite volume of liquid and an in®nite con-
vection coecient15.
In fact, the problem is far more complex and two
main assumptions have been made in the previous
studies in calculating the time of food protection:
(i) the transfer of the liquid food into the polymer
does not interfer on the contaminant transfer, in
spite of that fact intervenes in case of plasticized
PVC16,17; and (ii) the contaminant is only located
in the recycled polymer layer with a uniform
concentration. This second assumption means that
no contaminant transfer takes place during the
coextrusion of the tri-layers of the package18. In
fact, during the preparation of the package each
polymer layer is heated and melted and the tri-
layer polymers are coextruded. The tri-layer ®lm is
then allowed to cool down in air. It has been
shown by calculation that during this short period
of time at high temperature, a di€usion of the
contaminant takes place with a temperature-
dependent di€usivity either with bi-layer18 or a tri-
layer19 package.
The ®rst objective in this paper is to evaluate the
contaminant transfer during the coextrusion pro-
cess expressed by a concentration pro®le of con-
taminant in the package. Of course, during the
coextrusion process heat is transferred by free
convection at the package surface and by conduc-
tion through the package, leading to pro®les of
332 COMP. AND THEOR. POLYMER SCIENCE Volume 8 Number 3/4 1998
temperature developing into the package. Asso-
ciated with this heat transfer a contaminant trans-
fer takes place with a temperature-dependent
di€usivity leading to a pro®le of contaminant
concentration through the package in the ®nal
tri-layer package. A numerical model is thus
built, taking into account both the heat and mass
transfer18,19.
The other purpose of this study is to determine
by calculation the time of food protection obtained
with this coextruded tri-layer package. The case of
a liquid food is considered, and the contaminant
transfer is controlled either by convection into the
food and di€usion through the package with a
constant di€usivity. The transfer of the food into
the package is neglected. The initial pro®le of con-
taminant concentration is that obtained at the end
of the coextrusion process. Moreover, the e€ect of
the thickness of the package is examined, when the
three polymer layers have the same thickness.
THEORETICAL
The following two processes are considered in suc-
cession: the ®lms coextrusion with heat transfer
and mass transfer at high temperature; the con-
taminant transfer with the food-package system at
room temperature.
Process of ®lms coextrusion
Assumptions
1. The three thin ®lms are coextruded and heat
and mass transfers are unidirectional through
the thickness of these ®lms.
2. The recycled polymer layer is located between
the two virgin polymer layers.
3. The three layers are in perfect contact with no
resistance to heat and mass transfer.
4. Initially, the contaminant concentration is
uniform in the recycled polymer layer, while
the virgin polymer layers are free from con-
taminant.
5. The package initially at the uniform tempera-
ture of coextrusion (300 or 330 C) is cooled
down is motionless air at 20 C. Heat is trans-
ferred by free convection at the air±package
interface and by conduction through the
package.
6. As soon as the three polymer layers are coex-
truded, during the cooling period in air, a
contaminant transfer takes place through the
package controlled by Fickian di€usion. The
di€usivity varies with temperature by follow-
ing an Arrhenius' law.
 Effect of food package thickness on the time of food protection: A. L. Perou et al.

Mathematical treatment (Figure 1) tˆ0 recycled polymer Cin

…7†
Heat transfer virgin polymer Cˆ0
The equation of unidirectional heat transfer by
condition through the package is:
  Numerical analysis
@T @ @T The Crank±Nicolson method is used for calculat-
c ˆ l: …1†
@t @x @x ing the temperature and concentration at each time
and position. The thickness of the package is divi-
The initial condition is ded into N slices of thickness
x, and increments
of time
t are considered. The two integers i; j
tˆ0 0<x<L Tin …2† appear in calculation18, as well as the following
three dimensionless numbers:
The boundary conditions are
2
heat conduction : MH ji ˆ …
x † c

t : lj
t>0 xˆ0 lj @T
@x js ˆ ht …Ts;t ÿ Tair †
x:h jt
i

xˆL heat convection : MC ji ˆ l ji

…8†
2
…3† contaminant transfer R ji ˆ …
x†

t:D Ji

meaning that the rate of heat transferred by con-

vection is constantly equal to the heat brought to Process of contaminant transfer in the food with the
the surface by internal conduction. package-food system
The midplane of the package is a plane of sym-
metry as the layers are made of the same polymer Assumptions
and the concentration of the contaminant is very
low. 1. The contaminant transfer is controlled by dif-
fusion through the package and convection
t>0 x ˆ L2 @T
ˆ0 …4†
@x into the liquid food with a ®nite coecient of
convective transfer. Only one face of the
package is in contact with the food.
Contaminant transfer 2. The di€usion is unidirectional through the
The equation of unidirectional di€usion through package, and the di€usivity of the con-
the package is: taminant through the package is constant. As
  shown in an earlier study20, the e€ect of the
@C @ @C cristallinity of PET (polyethylene ter-
ˆ Dx;t : …5†
@t @x @x ephthalate) on the di€usivity of a con-
taminant is not very important.
with the temperature-dependent di€usivity: 3. The contaminant does not evaporate on the
  surface in contact with air.
A 4. The di€usion of the contaminant is only con-
DT ˆ D0 : exp ÿ …6†
T sidered, by neglecting the transfer of the food
in the polymer. This assumption is generally
made by researchers in that ®eld. However,
The initial condition is:
the e€ect of the food transfer into the polymer
depends essentially on the nature of the poly-
mer±food couple, and not on the presence of
contaminant.
5. Initially, the pro®le of contaminant con-
centration through the package is that
obtained at the end of the coextrusion pro-
cess.
6. The volume of the liquid food is ®nite.

Mathematical treatment (Figure 2)

Figure 1 Scheme of the process of heat and mass transfer during the
The equation of unidirection di€usion through the
stage of coextrusion. package with constant di€usivity is:

COMP. AND THEOR. POLYMER SCIENCE Volume 8 Number 3/4 1998 333
Effect of food package thickness on the time of food protection: A. L. Perou et al.

with the dimensionless numbers:

2
R ˆ …D:
t

x†
P ˆ h:
x
D
…14†

The amount of contaminant remaining in the

package at each time is evaluated by integrating
the concentration with respect to space12,13.

Figure 2 Scheme of the process of contaminant transfer into the food

with the food±package system. RESULTS

Two kinds of results are of interest: (i) the one

@C @2 C concerned with the contaminant transfer through
ˆ D: 2 …9†
@t @x the tri-layer ®lm during the stage of coextrusion,
leading to a ®nal pro®le of contaminant con-
The initial condition for the pro®le of contaminant centration; (ii) the other with the transfer of con-
concentration is the same as that obtained at the taminant through the package into the food at
end of the coextrusion process. room temperature.
The boundary condition at the package±food Moreover, the e€ect of the thickness of the ®lm
interface is: and of the coextrusion temperature is especially
considered.
t>0 xˆL Dj @C
@x js;t ˆ hm …Cs;t ÿ Cfood;t †
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is used for this
…10† purpose, as some data are available for the heat
transfer properties21 and also for the data of the
di€usivity at room temperature20 (Tables 1 and 2).
where Cs;t is the concentration of contaminant on
the package surface at time t, and Cfood;t is the Contaminant transfer during the stage of
uniform concentration of contaminant in the food coextrusion of the tri-layer ®lm.
at time t.
Equation (10) expresses that the rate at which As shown in the theoretical part, during the stage
the contaminant is transferred into the food by, of coextrusion, the three layers at high temperature
convection is constantly equal to the rate at which are coextruded and the ®lm is allowed to cool
the contaminant is brought to the surface by inter- down in air at room temperature. The process of
nal di€usion. heat transfer is controlled by free convection at the
At the package±air interface, there is no transfer: air-®lm interface and by conduction through the
  ®lm. Of course, simultaneously a contaminant
@C transfer takes place through the ®lm, controlled by
 ˆ0 …11†
 @x  di€usion with a temperature-dependent di€usivity.

Heat transfer during coextrusion

Numerical treatment Depending on the thickness of the ®lm, the tem-
The problem with a ®nite volume of liquid food perature in the ®lm decreases with a given rate
and ®nite coecient of convective transfer must be when the ®lm is in contact with air. The tempera-
resolved by a numerical method12,13. ture±time histories are drawn in Figure 3, for two
The concentration at position i and time temperatures of coextrusion (300±330 C) and for
…j ‡ 1†
t is obtained by using: the three values of the thickness of the ®lm
(90 microns with curve 3; 150 microns in 2;
1 j  300 microns in 1).
C ij‡1 ˆ C iÿ1 ‡ …R ÿ 2†C ji ‡ C ji‡1 …12†
R Two positions are considered: the surface of the
®lm, and the midplane of the ®lm in each case.
and on the surface in contact with the liquid: The curves in Figure 3 can lead to the following
conclusions:
j‡1 1 j 
CN ˆ 2C Nÿ1 ‡ …R ÿ 2P ÿ 2†C jN ‡ 2P:Cfood;t
R 1. Of course, the temperature±time histories
…13† start either at 300 or 330 C at time 0. The

334 COMP. AND THEOR. POLYMER SCIENCE Volume 8 Number 3/4 1998
 Effect of food package thickness on the time of food protection: A. L. Perou et al.

Figure 3 Temperature±time histories during the cooling period of

Figure 4 Kinetics of contaminant transfer during the coextrusion for
coextrusion at 330C (10 , 20 ,30 ) and 300 C (1, 2, 3) for the three thick-
the di€erent thicknesses and temperatures (300 C: 1, 2, 3; 330 C: 10 , 20 ,
nesses of the ®lms: 300 microns (1, 10 ), 150 microns (2, 20 ); 90 microns
30 ): 300 microns (1, 10 ); 150 microns (2,20 ); 90 microns (3, 30 ).
(3, 30 ).

temperature decreases quickly at the begin-
ning of the process (curves 1, 2, 3 at 300 C
and 10 , 20 , 30 at 330 C).
2. The e€ect of the coextrusion temperature
clearly appears.
3. The thickness of the ®lm intervene on the rate
of decrease in temperature with the obvious
statement: the thinner the ®lm, the faster the
rate of decrease in temperature. The tempera-
ture decreases to around 200 C after only 2 s
for the 90 microns thick ®lm.
4. The thickness of the ®lm is responsible for a
di€erence in temperature through the ®lm
depending on position. Of course, the tem-
perature on the surface and at the middle of
the ®lm is about the same for the thinner ®lm,
while a signi®cant di€erence appears for the
thicker ®lm.
Contaminant transfer during coextrusion
Resulting from the high temperature of the coex-
trusion process, a contaminant transfer takes place
through the ®lm. This transfer is controlled by dif-
fusion with a concentration-dependent di€usivity,
and thus the rate of transfer decreases during the
stage of cooling.
The results are expressed in two ways: with the
kinetics of contaminant transfer in Figure 4, and
with the pro®les of concentration developed
through the ®lm at the end of the coextrusion
process.
Some conclusions are worth nothing:
1. The transfer of contaminant through the ®lms
is very fast, as shown in Figure 4, and it takes
place in a few seconds.
2. The e€ect of the thickness of the ®lm on the
contaminant transfer appears in Figure 4. The
thickness acts not only upon the rate of con-
taminant transfer but also on the relative
amount of contaminant transferred Mt =Min ,
with this statement: the thinner the ®lm, the
faster the contaminant transfer and the
greater the relative amount of contaminant
transferred.
3. The e€ect of the coextrusion temperature is of
great importance whatever the thickness of
the ®lm (1, 2, 3 at 300 C and 10 , 20 , 30 at
330 C). Especially the relative amount
Mt =Min of contaminant transferred largely
increases with the coextrusion temperature.
4. Of course, the rate of contaminant transfer
essentially varies with the temperature depen-
dency of the di€usivity. Tedious experiments
and calculation are done at temperature
around the softening temperature and not yet
published22. Calculation of the di€usivity
needs a numerical model similar to that
described in this paper.
5. The pro®les of concentration of contaminant
developed through the ®lm at the end of the
coextrusion stage, e.g. after a few seconds, are
shown in Figure 5 (90 microns), Figure 7
(150 microns) and in Figure 9 (300 microns)
for the coextrusion temperature of 330 C.
These pro®les are noticed 0 in these three ®g-
ures, being also the initial pro®les of con-
centration during the contaminant transfer in
the package±food system.
6. Comparison between these pro®les at time 0
shown in Figures 5, 7 and 9 shows clearly the
e€ect of the thickness of the ®lm on the
transfer. Thus for the thinner ®lm of
90 microns, the contaminant reaches the ®lm
surfaces, while it does not for the larger
thicknesses.

COMP. AND THEOR. POLYMER SCIENCE Volume 8 Number 3/4 1998 335
Effect of food package thickness on the time of food protection: A. L. Perou et al.
Figure 5 Pro®les of contaminant concentration developed at various
times (Dt=L2 ) through the tri-layer package of 90 microns coextruded
at 330 C.
7. The midplane of the ®lm is a plane of sym-
metry for the temperature transfer, as well as
for the mass transfer. The relative concentra-
tion of contaminant at this midplane is of
interest: it is around 0.8 for the thinner ®lm,
0.9 for the 150 micron ®lm and more than 0.95
for the 300 micron ®lm.
Contaminant transfer with the package-food system
The contaminant transfer in the package±food
system at room temperature is controlled by di€u-
sion through the three layer package and convec-
tion into the liquid food. The di€usivity is
considered as constant because the concentration
of contaminant is very low in the package. The
values of the parameters: the di€usivity, the coe-
cient of convective transfer and the volume of
liquid are shown in Table 2. The value of the coef-
®cient of convective transfer into the liquid is that
obtained in olive oil23. The thickness of 1.6 cm for
the liquid corresponds with a liquid food of 1 litre
in cubic shape.
The results are expressed either through the pro-
®les of contaminant concentration developed
Table 1 Characteristics for heat and mass transfer during coextru-
sion the stage of coextrusion thickness of the tri-layer package: 0.005/
0.005/0.005 cm
 ˆ 9:9  10ÿ4 ‡ 6:8  10ÿ7  T …cm2 sÿ1 †
l ˆ 6:1  10ÿ4 ‡ 9:6  10ÿ8  T …cal cmÿ2 sÿ1 degÿ †
h ˆ 2  10ÿ4  exp j ÿ TL ÿ Tair j025 …cal cmÿ2 sÿ1 degÿ1 †
ÿ

D ˆ 28 240  exp ÿ 13 T800 …cm2 sÿ1 †
Table 2 Characteristics of the contaminant transfer into the food
Di€usivity D ˆ 10ÿ10 cm2 sÿ1
Convective coecient h ˆ 10ÿ8 cm sÿ1
Thickness of the liquid (per unit area of package)=1.6 cm
1 litre of food in cubic shape
336 COMP. AND THEOR. POLYMER SCIENCE Volume 8 Number 3/4 1998
through the package or by the kinetics of con-
taminant transfer into the food.
Pro®les of contaminant concentration developed
through the package
The pro®les of concentration of contaminant
developed through the package in the food±pack-
age system are drawn in Figure 5 (90 microns
thick), in Figure 7 (150 microns) and in Figure 9
(300 microns).
Dimensionless numbers are used: the concentra-
tion as a fraction of the initial concentration of
contaminant initially in the recycled polymer layer
before coextrusion; Dt=L2 instead of time, the
relative abscissa x=L. The following conclusions
are of interest:
1. These pro®les of contaminant developed at
various times give a fuller insight into the
nature of the process of transfer through the
package.
2. The pro®les are symmetrical with the mid-
plane as plane of symmetry when the con-
taminant is still located in the package.
3. When the contaminant reaches the food sur-
face, a transfer in the food takes place, and
the pro®les of concentration are not symme-
trical. On the whole, the concentration on the
package surface in contact with the surround-
ing is higher than on the surface package in
contact with food.
4. For long times, e.g. 0.1 for Dt=L2 , the con-
centration on the package surface in contact
with the surrounding is even greater than in
the recycled polymer layer, as already
shown12.
5. The gradient of concentration is always 0 on
the package surface in contact with the sur-
rounding, as the contaminant does not eva-
porate in air.
6. Because of the dimensionless numbers, these
curves can be considered as master curves
which can be used for evaluating the transfer
of contaminant through the package.
Kinetics contaminant transfer in the food
T:Celsius The kinetics of contaminant transferred into the
T:Celsius
food are drawn for the three thicknesses of the
T:Celsius
T:Celsius
package coextruded at 330 C, in Figure 6
(90 microns), Figure 8 (150 microns) and Figure 10
(300 microns). Dimensionless numbers are used for
each thickness: the amount transferred after time t
as a fraction of the initial amount of contaminant
in the recycled polymer; Dt=L2 instead of time.
These kinetics are drawn under three conditions:
in the hypothetical case when no contaminant
 Effect of food package thickness on the time of food protection: A. L. Perou et al.

transfer takes place during the coextrusion stage
(curve 1); when coextrusion takes place with a
contaminant transfer at 300 C (curve 2) and at
330 C (curve 20 ).
The following conclusions are obtained:
an increase in this temperature is responsible
for a signi®cant decrease in time of food pro-
tection.
4. It stands to reason that the coextrusion pro-
cess cannot be neglected, as a signi®cant

1. The shape of the kinetics of contaminant

transfer into the food is typical as already
shown12,13. The rate increases with time more
and more quickly, starting from a zero value
with the curve 1 in Figures 6, 8 and 10.
2. The e€ect of the thickness on the transfer in
the food appears by comparing the curves in
Figures 6, 8 and 10. For instance, with the
thinner ®lm of 90 microns coextruded at
330 C, the contaminant transfer takes place as
soon as the food is put in the package.
3. The e€ect of the operational conditions of the
coextrusion process also appears for each
thickness of the package by comparing the
Figure 8 Kinetics of contaminant transferred into the food from the
curves 1, 2 and 20 . The coextrusion tempera- tri-layer package of 150 microns: (1) with no transfer during coextru-
ture is a parameter of great importance, and sion, (2) with coextrusion at 300 C, and (20 ) at 330 C.

Figure 6 Kinetics of contaminant transferred into the food from the Figure 9 Pro®les of contaminant concentration developed at various
tri-layer package of 90 microns: (1) with no transfer during coextru- times (Dt=L2 ) through the tri-layer package of 300 microns coextruded
sion, (2) with coextrusion at 300 C, and (20 ) at 330 C. at 330 C.

Figure 7 Pro®les of contaminant concentration developed at various Figure 10 Kinetics of contaminant transferred into the food from the
times (Dt=L2 ) through the tri-layer package of 150 microns coextruded tri-layer package of 300 microns: (1) with no transfer during coextru-
at 330 C. sion, (2) with coextrusion at 300 C, and (20 ) at 330 C.

COMP. AND THEOR. POLYMER SCIENCE Volume 8 Number 3/4 1998 337
Effect of food package thickness on the time of food protection: A. L. Perou et al.
transfer of contaminant takes place through
the package. The e€ect of the di€usivity
through the polymer at the coextrusion tem-
perature and the temperature-dependency of
the di€usivity have to be determined with
accuracy. Some work is in progress along this
direction22.
CONCLUSIONS
Following this study, it stands to reason that a
contaminant transfer takes place in a signi®cant
manner through the tri-layer ®lm during the stage
of coextrusion. Thus the contaminant is located
throughout the package with a given pro®le of
concentration; this pro®le highly depends on the
conditions of coextrusion, e.g. temperature, condi-
tions of cooling in air. The thickness of the pack-
age also plays an important role on the transfer
with the following statement: the thinner the ®lm,
the more important the contaminant transfer.
Of course, a package with such a contaminant
pro®le behaves di€erently in a food±package sys-
tem at room temperature, depending on the con-
centration pro®le obtained at the end of the stage
of coextrusion. The obvious statement holds: the
more important the contaminant transfer during
coextrusion, the shorter the time of protection of
the food.
Typical kinetics are obtained for the pollution of
food with these tri-layer packages. The rate of
transfer of the contaminant, after a time of full
protection, starts slowly and increases progres-
sively with time. This shape for the kinetics is quite
di€erent from that obtained with a package made
of recycled polymer without functional barrier,
where the transfer of contaminant starts as soon as
the package is in contact with the food, and with a
very high rate as shown in earlier studies13. The
e€ect of the thickness of the package on the kinet-
ics of food pollution also appears clearly: a larger
thickness of the package is thus associated with a
shorter rate of food pollution. However, the ten-
dency in the market is rather to try to reduce this
thickness, resulting from the economical aspect.
338 COMP. AND THEOR. POLYMER SCIENCE Volume 8 Number 3/4 1998
Thus this paper has pointed out the importance of
the problem in food-package system with polymer
recycling. It has also laid the way for further stu-
dies using the same numerical treatment in order to
increase the time of food protection. Various ways
can be traced: trying to decrease the cooling period
after coextrusion; using di€erent relative thick-
nesses for the layers of the package with a larger
thickness for the functional barrier in contact with
the food; and improving the experimental techni-
que for determining the temperature-dependency
of the contaminant. The theoretical approach and
the numerical model described in this paper can be
of help to resolve these problems.
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