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Anticipating Environmental Impacts of Future Fuels
Citation:
WEAVER, J. W. Anticipating Environmental Impacts of Future Fuels. IN: LUSTLine, New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission, Lowell, MA, (61):5-6, (2009).
Impact/Purpose:
This project seeks to develop a comprehensive approach to assessing releases of petroleum fuels that accounts for their multicomponent nature, specifically in the areas of multicomponent partitioning to air and ground water, and assessment of transport to receptors.
Description:
Automotive fuels are composed of hundreds of compounds and the formulations aren’t uniform; they vary geographically and seasonally and sometimes specifically in response to regulatory requirements. As a result, very few state underground storage tank (UST) regulators know what is in the fuel stream at a service station or bulk plant in their state. Consequently, difficulties abound in anticipating which compounds to sample, choosing analytical methods and eventually selecting technologies for effective remediation in the case of a release. We face the new challenge of determining the correct approach to protecting human health and the environment that includes prioritization of chemicals based on toxicity, fate, and transport in the subsurface. This article touches on some basic new fuel-related concerns in leaking underground storage tank (LUST) site assessment and remediation, particularly those associated with ethanol in gasoline.
URLs/Downloads:
Anticipating Environmental Impacts of Future Fuels
WEAVER 09 059 LL#61-FUTURE FUEL IMPACTS.PDF (PDF, NA pp, 18 KB, about PDF)