Release of petroleum products, in particular gasoline, at underground storage tank facilities is a significant source of groundwater contaminants. These products are highly complex and variable mixtures of organic compounds. This makes their residue analysis in environmental samples and evaluation of their solubility behavior difficult. Research efforts described in this work addressed development of a rapid analytical method for petroleum product residues in water and evaluation of gasoline aqueous solubility behavior. Analytical method development focussed on capillary GC/FID and GC/MS with direct aqueous injection (DAI). Excellent chromatographic performance for C1 to C4 alcohols, C6 to C9 monoaromatics, phenols and other compounds was achieved. Calibration curves were linear over a wide dynamic range and analytical limits of detection of key analytes like benzene and toluene, while higher than LOD's obtained with other methods, were below established Maximum Contaminant Levels. The method was found to be simple, rapid, comprehensive and sufficiently sensitive for monitoring drinking water quality. With this method, the water solubility behavior of four gasolines spanning a wide range in composition was investigated. Highly water soluble gasoline constituents (alcohols, phenols, methyl tert-butyl ether) were found to have effective dissolution velocities which were greater than common aromatic compounds like benzene and toluene. It was also found that fuel-water partition coefficients of various gasoline constituents could be approximated by assuming ideal Raoult's Law behavior without making appreciable errors in estimates in solute concentrations. Deviation from the ideal was relatively small even with a product containing 85 percent (v/v) methanol. Finally, successive batch equilibrations of the products with water showed that alcohols, phenols, MTBE and other gasoline constituents which have water solubility are leached rapidly from the product phase. As a result, any cosolvent effects on petroleum hydrocarbon solubility will be attenuated rapidly following a product release and the onset of leaching of contaminated soil.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-8401 |
| Date | 01 January 1992 |
| Creators | Potter, Thomas Lee |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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