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Preventing Pollution from Biofuels Through A Knowledge Based Approach to Composition and Transport
Citation:
WEAVER, J. W., M. Tonkin, E. J. HAYTER, H. WHITE, N. NICHOLS, L. DEHAVEN, M. SMALL, L. R. EXUM, D. L. SPIDLE, D. COLON, AND L. M. PRIETO. Preventing Pollution from Biofuels Through A Knowledge Based Approach to Composition and Transport. Presented at EPA Science Forum, Washington, DC, May 20 - 22, 2008.
Impact/Purpose:
The scientific objective of this task is to develop a multicomponent approach to subsurface modeling that has applicability to a variety of problems
Description:
The US has been subject to unexpected and costly fuel-related contamination problems. The composition, properties and behavior of fuels in the environment is problematic because they are composed of hundreds of compounds of varying chemical types. Consequently a comprehensive two-pronged program to study their behavior has been developed. The first prong is to study the composition and properties of representative fuels and biofuels nationally in measurements taken from around the country; and historically to see how fuel composition has changed over the years. This study is important to the problem of subsurface contamination as underground releases are not generally detected until years after their occurrence. The second prong of this work is focused on transport of these contaminants in surface and ground waters. Whereas previously, single components such as benzene were the primary focus, a more comprehensive approach is needed to assess contemporary fuels because plume travel and transformation of one component (i.e., benzene) depends on the presence, transport and transformation of other fuel components. Similar problems may be encountered in surface waters for biofuels where phase separation of ethanol blends may create oil slicks while generating large volumes of alcohol-water mixtures. Surface and ground water transport models are being modified to use compositional data for biofuels. In the subsurface, the Hydrocarbon Spill Screening Model is being merged with MODFLOW and MT3D for transport calculations. For surface waters, the EPA Research Object-Oriented Oil Spill Model is being merged with the Environmental Fluid Dynamics Code (EFDC) for analogous problems.