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). ...

Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) is a synthetic chemical that was historically used as an octane booster additive to gasoline. Increasingly there have been concerns about its toxicity and potential carcinogenicity. Because of these concerns, 18 states regulate MTBE levels in groundwater and 17 have banned its use in gasoline. Because of its chemical characteristics, MTBE contaminated sites ar...

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of substrate interactions on the biotransformation rates and mineralization potentials of gasoline monoaromatics and methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), compounds that commonly co-exist in groundwater contaminant plumes. A mixed culture was derived from gasoline-contaminated aquifer material using toluene as the enrichment substrate. Tw...

The fuel oxygenate methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), a widely distributed groundwater contaminant, shows potential for treatment by in situ bioremediation. The bacterial strain PM1 rapidly mineralizes and grows on MTBE in laboratory cultures and can degrade the contaminant when inoculated into groundwater or soil microcosms. We applied the TaqMan quantitative PCR method to detect and quantify str...

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of substrate interactions on the biotransformation rates and mineralization potentials of gasoline monoaromatics and methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), compounds that commonly co-exist in groundwater contaminant plumes. A mixed culture was derived from gasoline-contaminated aquifer material using toluene as the enrichment substrate. Tw...

A stable water-in-oil-in-water (W1/O/W2) double emulsion containing in its inner aqueous phase a microbial consortium (60mgprotein L 1 double emulsion) known to degrade methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) was prepared. The primary emulsion (W1/O) had a volume disperse phase (f1) of 0.3 and was stabilized with 8% Span 80. The double emulsion had a volume disperse phase (f2) of 0.3 and was stabilized ...

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is a contaminant of concern to groundwater resources due to its persistence in subsurface environments. MTBE appears to be degraded readily in the presence of oxygen but is recalcitrant under the anaerobic conditions prevalent in the subsurface, and can be converted into the more toxic compound tert-butanol (TBA). As ethanol is being promoted as a renewable fuel a...

Methyl-tert-butyl (MTBE) is widely used in gasoline to reduce ozone and carbon monoxide emissions. However, it is highly water-soluble and does not absorb well to sediments, making it move quickly through groundwater systems. In addition, MTBE resists biological degradation, compared to other gasoline components, probably because of the high energy required to cleave its ether bond. The contami...

The synthesis and application of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) are achieving increasing importance due to its low toxicity and versatile reactivity. DMC can be used as environmentfriendly intermediate and starting material for organic synthesis via carbonylation and it can replace methylating agents such as dimethyl sulphate and methyl halides [1–3]. DMC is also being considered as a component for r...