Facilitated and retarded transport and degradation in porous media due to carriers

Mathematical analysis of two generic situations of microscale transport in the pore space, one with and one without carriers, delivers effective parameters for retardation and degradation or deactivation at a macroscale. The effective parameters differ from those of the microscale and are different for both generic situations. Explicit criteria are derived for the conditions under which migration with carriers is faster (facilitated transport) or slower (retarded transport) than in the non-carrier situation. The presented concept can be applied to explain differences between various measurement methods, illustrated by a series of batch and column experiments for phages.