Volatilization of benzene on soil surface under different factors: evaluation and modeling

The volatilization of volatile organic compounds following a leakage event is a crucial mechanism that influences their migration and transformation in the soil. It is noteworthy that this process is intricately shaped by soil properties and environmental factors, exhibiting highly complex nonlinear relationships. However, there is currently no reliable mathematical model to predict the nonlinear relationship. To address this gap, the study conducted dynamic experiments considering various factors, including particle size, organic matter content, temperature, wind speed and moisture content. The volatilization rate ( \(k\) $k$ ), an important parameter in volatilization kinetics reflecting the speed of volatilization, was calculated by first-order kinetic principle. Finally, an innovative approach was introduced using a Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) model for prediction. The findings indicate that wind speed exerts the most significant impact on the volatilization rate of benzene among the examined factors. The application of BPNN demonstrates the model's accuracy in simulating benzene volatilization rates under diverse conditions. The results of K-fold cross-validation alleviate concerns of potential over-prediction, affirming the reliability of the constructed model. This research introduces a novel methodology for predicting volatilization parameters in real-world scenarios.