REVIEW OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR AND FATE OF METHYL tert-BUTYL ETHER

Squillace, Paul J.; Pankow, James F.; Korte, Nic; Zogorski, John S.

doi:10.1897/1551-5028(1997)016<1836:roteba>2.3.co;2

Cited by 147 publications

(125 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Also, the probability of MTBE occurrence is inversely proportional to the distance from a known fuel sources and positively proportional to specific conductance (SC). SC is indicative of urban effects on the groundwater system (such as roadway deicing or sewer and septic-system leakage) and may be a proxy for the effects of nonpoint sources of MTBE (32). Other factors, such as pH, mapped lineaments, and to some extent, the distance to known sources, indicate possible mechanisms that affect the transport of MTBE for public bedrock wells.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methyl tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) in Public and Private Wells in New Hampshire: Occurrence, Factors, and Possible Implications

Ayotte

Argue

McGarry

et al. 2008

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) concentrations g0.2 µg/L were found in samples of untreated water in 18% of publicsupply wells (n ) 284) and 9.1% of private domestic wells (n ) 264) sampled in 2005 and 2006 in New Hampshire. In counties that used reformulated gasoline (RFG), MTBE occurred at or above 0.2 µg/L in 30% of public-and 17% of private-supply wells. Additionally, 52% of public-supply wells collocated with fuel storage and 71% of mobile home park wells had MTBE. MTBE occurrence in public-supply wells was predicted by factors such as proximity to sources of fuel, land use, and population density, as well as low pH and distance from mapped lineaments. RFG use, land-use variables, and pH were important predictors of private-well MTBE occurrence. Variables representing sources of MTBE, such as the distance to known fuel sources, were not significant predictors of MTBE occurrence in private-supply wells. It is hypothesized that private wells may become contaminated from the collective effects of sources in high population areas and from undocumented incidental releases from onsite or proximal gasoline use. From 2003 to 2005, MTBE occurrence decreased in 63 publicsupply wells and increased in 60 private-supply wells, but neither trend was statistically significant.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methyl tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) in Public and Private Wells in New Hampshire: Occurrence, Factors, and Possible Implications

Ayotte

Argue

McGarry

et al. 2008

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…This was accomplished by increasing the concentrations of MTBE, which acts as an oxygenate [9]. However, MTBE accidentally released to the subsurface [15] contaminated downstream drinking water wells relatively quickly, moving almost with the speed of groundwater, because MTBE is hydrophilic and poorly biodegradable [16]. MTBE was later on identified as a potential human carcinogen [16].…”

Section: Chemical Composition Of Fuelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, MTBE accidentally released to the subsurface [15] contaminated downstream drinking water wells relatively quickly, moving almost with the speed of groundwater, because MTBE is hydrophilic and poorly biodegradable [16]. MTBE was later on identified as a potential human carcinogen [16]. In the USA, MTBE was therefore phased out in the 1990s; at the same time, refineries began supplementing fuel with ethanol as an oxygenate [17].…”

Section: Chemical Composition Of Fuelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrocarbon Release During Fuel Storage and Transfer at Gas Stations: Environmental and Health Effects

Hilpert

Mora

et al. 2015

Curr Envir Health Rpt

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At gas stations, fuel is stored and transferred between tanker trucks, storage tanks, and vehicle tanks. During both storage and transfer, a small fraction of unburned fuel is typically released to the environment unless pollution prevention technology is used. While the fraction may be small, the cumulative release can be substantial because of the large quantities of fuel sold. The cumulative release of unburned fuel is a public health concern because gas stations are widely distributed in residential areas and because fuel contains toxic and carcinogenic chemicals. We review the pathways through which gasoline is chronically released to atmospheric, aqueous, and subsurface environments, and how these releases may adversely affect human health. Adoption of suitable pollution prevention technology should not only be based on equipment and maintenance cost but also on energy-and health care-saving benefits.

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“…of the storm water samples collected by the USGS in 16 cities and metropolitan areas, MTBE was the seventh most frequently detected VOC (Squillace et al, 1997(Squillace et al, , 1998.…”

Section: Journal Of Hazardous Substance Research 4-2mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The organic carbon sorption will retard the migration of the compound. With a value of K oc equal to 11 and an octanol water partition coefficient (K ow ) of 17.4 (Zhang et al, 1998a;Squillace et al, 1997), MTBE is less retarded than other gasoline constituents.…”

Section: Journal Of Hazardous Substance Research 4-2mentioning

confidence: 99%

An Experimental Study of Phytoremediation of Methyl-tert-butyl Ether (MTBE) in Groundwater

Zhang¹,

Davis²,

Erickson³

1999

Journal of Hazardous Substance Research

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The feasibility of phytoremediation of groundwater contamination with methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE) was examined experimentally using a six-channel soil system with or without plants. Two bacterial strains capable of degrading MTBE were each added to two out of six channels. A solution of 0.84 mM MTBE was continuously fed into each channel at 1 L/day until a stable MTBE concentration level in the groundwater was established; then the feeding was switched back to distilled water. The channel groundwater effluent MTBE concentration and the soil gas MTBE fluxes were monitored from the beginning of the MTBE solution feeding until no MTBE was detected. Integration of the gas flux data indicated that the four vegetated channels with introduced bacteria had less MTBE at the soil surface than channel 3 which was vegetated but without any introduced bacteria. The total mass balance for MTBE showed that the fractions of MTBE that were not recovered in the planted channels were significantly higher than in the unplanted channel. Analysis of the experimental data indicates that, due to the presence of the plants, MTBE might have been undergoing enhanced rhizosphere biodegradation. ABSTRACT

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REVIEW OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR AND FATE OF METHYL tert-BUTYL ETHER

Cited by 147 publications

References 23 publications

Methyl tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) in Public and Private Wells in New Hampshire: Occurrence, Factors, and Possible Implications

Methyl tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) in Public and Private Wells in New Hampshire: Occurrence, Factors, and Possible Implications

Hydrocarbon Release During Fuel Storage and Transfer at Gas Stations: Environmental and Health Effects

An Experimental Study of Phytoremediation of Methyl-tert-butyl Ether (MTBE) in Groundwater

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