Peer Reviewed: MTBE—To What Extent Will Past Releases Contaminate Community Water Supply Wells?

Johnson, Richard L.; Pankow, James F.; Bender, David A.; Price, Curtis; Zogorski, John S.

doi:10.1021/es003268z

Cited by 287 publications

(177 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Considerable quantities of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are produced in the United States each year for a variety of applications, including solvents, fumigants, refrigerants, organic synthesis compounds, and gasoline components (1). In addition, the disinfection of water with chlorine produces large volumes of VOC byproducts such as chloroform and bromoform, often referred to as trihalomethanes (THMs).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Risk Analysis of Six Volatile Organic Compounds in California Drinking Water

Williams

Benton

Warmerdam

et al. 2002

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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The widespread use and storage of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the United States has led to releases of these chemicals into the environment, including groundwater sources of drinking water. Many of these VOCs are commonly found in public drinking water supplies across the nation and are considered by state or federal agencies to be potentially carcinogenic to humans. In this paper, we evaluate the detection frequencies, detected concentrations, and relative cancer risks of six VOCs in drinking water sources in California from 1995 to 2001. We find that, during this 7-year period, the most frequently detected VOCs in sampled drinking water sources were chloroform (12-14%), PCE (11-13%), and TCE (10-12%). Detection frequencies in water were lower for 1,1-DCE (3-6%), MTBE (1-3%), and benzene (<1%). Mean detected concentrations were also consistently above California's primary maximum contaminant level for some VOCs, including benzene, PCE, and TCE. Although none of the six VOCs necessarily poses a significant public health threat from drinking water exposures, 1,1-DCE and benzene were found to pose the greatest cancer risk relative to the other VOCs. However, after adjusting for the occurrence of each VOC in drinking water, chloroform and PCE were found to pose the greatest relative cancer risk. Despite media reports about significant MTBE contamination of drinking water supplies in California, MTBE detections were infrequent, and this chemical was found to pose the least cancer risk relative to the other VOCs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative Risk Analysis of Six Volatile Organic Compounds in California Drinking Water

Williams

Benton

Warmerdam

et al. 2002

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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“…MTBE has been detected in urban air (2), surface water (3), and shallow groundwater (4,5). It has been estimated that MTBE may have been released from up to 250,000 leaking underground storage tanks in the United States (1). MTBE is affecting the quality of drinking water due to its strong taste and odor and its possible carcinogenic effects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…MTBE is affecting the quality of drinking water due to its strong taste and odor and its possible carcinogenic effects. As a result, the U.S. EPA has issued a drinking water advisory of 20 to 40 µg/L for MTBE (1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring Biodegradation of Methyl tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) Using Compound-Specific Carbon Isotope Analysis

Hunkeler

Butler

Aravena

et al. 2001

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), the most common gasoline oxygenate, is frequently detected in surface water and groundwater. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of compound-specific isotope analysis to assess in situ biodegradation of MTBE in groundwater. For that purpose, the effect of relevant physical and biological processes on carbon isotope ratios of MTBE was evaluated in laboratory studies. Carbon isotope fractionation during organic phase/gas-phase partitioning (0.50 ( 0.15‰), aqueous phase/gas-phase partitioning (0.17 ( 0.05‰), and organic phase/aqueous-phase partitioning (0.18 ( 0.24‰) was small in comparison to carbon isotope fractionation measured during biodegradation of MTBE in microcosms based on aquifer sediments of the Borden site. In experiments with MTBE as the only substrate and a cometabolic experiment with 3-methypentane as primary substrate, MTBE became enriched in 13 C by 5.1 to 6.9‰ after 95 to 97% degradation. For both experiments, similar isotopic enrichment factors were obtained (-1.52 ( 0.06 to -1.97 ( 0.05‰). Biodegradation of TBA, which accumulated transiently in the cometabolic microcosms, was also accompanied by carbon isotope fractionation, with an isotopic enrichment factor of -4.21 ( 0.07‰. This study suggests that carbon isotope analysis is a potential tool to trace in situ biodegradation of MTBE and TBA and thus to better understand the fate of these contaminants in the environment.

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“…On the contrary with other gasoline components like BTEX compounds(Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl benzene and Xylenes), MTBE is less sorbed to soils and highly soluble in water mobile in ground water [2] . This, together with very slow or absence of natural attenuation and usually a long incubation time, which is necessary before the start of microbiological degradation, explain why ground water pollution with MTBE results in plume lengths that can reach several hundreds of meters, with reported cases of well above a kilometers [4][5][6] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Hydrolysis of MTBE to biodegradable compounds expected to be catalyzed even at room temperature by acidic materials such as zeolites of MFI group (e.g., ZSM-5) [17][18] . Zeolites are three-dimensional, crystalline inorganic compounds, which are built from AlO 4 and SiO 4 tetrahedra. ZSM-5 is a strong solid acid with a characteristic structure containing channels, which allow diffusion of molecules with appropriate size [19][20][21] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remediation of Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether Contaminated Water by Using In situ Catalytic and Biological Combined Techniques

Nikpay¹,

Kazemian²,

Sadeghi³

2008

American J. of Environmental Sciences

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Abstract:The hydrolysis reaction of Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) into biodegradable products was studied on as-synthesized and commercial H-MFI zeolites. The effect of synthesis procedure and SiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 ratio was investigated. The results obtained were indicated that H-MFI zeolites were effective in MTBE hydrolysis and increasing of the Si/Al ratio promotes the hydrolysis reaction. The amount of produced TBA was always lower than what expected estoichiometericaly. It is concluded that the missing amount of TBA can be a result of possible formation of an alkene. The capability of indigenous microorganism to biodegrade hydrolysis products in presence of zeolite was also studied. Microorganism was able to use products except TBA produced intermediate carbocation hasn't any adverse effects on the microbial activity.

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Peer Reviewed: MTBE—To What Extent Will Past Releases Contaminate Community Water Supply Wells?

Cited by 287 publications

References 3 publications

Comparative Risk Analysis of Six Volatile Organic Compounds in California Drinking Water

Comparative Risk Analysis of Six Volatile Organic Compounds in California Drinking Water

Monitoring Biodegradation of Methyl tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) Using Compound-Specific Carbon Isotope Analysis

Remediation of Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether Contaminated Water by Using In situ Catalytic and Biological Combined Techniques

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