Hydrochemical data, compound specific carbon isotope analysis and isotopic enrichment trends in dissolved hydrocarbons and residual electron acceptors have been used to deduce BTEX and MTBE degradation pathways in a fractured chalk aquifer. BTEX compounds are mineralised sequentially within specific redox environments, with changes in electron acceptor utilisation being defined by the exhaustio...

Abstract Groundwater remediation and no‐further action decision making at petroleum underground storage tank (UST) sites has largely been based on an understanding of plume length, stability, attenuation rates for key hydrocarbon constituents. Regulatory guidance to support guide such decisions is in part studies involving individual constituents, namely benzene methyl tert‐butyl ether (MTBE). ...

In response to the widespread contamination caused by MTBE-blended reformulated gasoline (RFG), legislative initiatives in several states and at the federal level have phased out, or are trying to phase out, the use of MTBE as a gasoline oxygenate. Ethanol is currently the most likely gasoline oxygenate alternative to MTBE. This potential for increased use of ethanol has been most widely acknow...

In March, prompted by rising concerns over groundwater contamination, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) called for a phaseout of methyl-tert-butyl ether, or MTBE, a chemical added to gasoline to reduce carbon monoxide (CO) pollution. The 1990 Clean Air Act requires that gasoline sold in polluted urban areas contain oxygen additives. This "oxygena-tion" supposedly promotes complete ...