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Contents

• Summary

• Chapter 1: Introduction: Increased Use of Ethanol in Gasoline and Potential Ground Water Impacts

• Chapter 2: Infiltration and Distribution of Ethanol and Ethanol-blended Gasolines

• Chapter 3: Effect of Ethanol and MtBE on BTEX Biodegradation in the Saturated Zone: Kinetic Studies

• Chapter 4: Effect of Ethanol on Hydrocarbon- degrading Bacteria in the Saturated Zone: Microbial Ecology Studies

• Chapter 5: A Finite-difference-based Reactive Transport Model Assessment of the Effects of Ethanol Biotransformation on the Lengths of Benzene Plumes from Leaking Underground Fuel Tanks

• Chapter 6: Evaluation of Storage and Analysis Protocols for Environmental Samples Containing Ethanol

• Miscellaneous files

Summary

Chapter 1

1.1. Background

1.1.1. MtBE Phase-out
1.1.2. Use of Ethanol-blended Gasoline

1.2. Areas of Subsurface Fate and Transport Uncertainty

1.2.1. Unsaturated Zone Transport
1.2.2. Impact of Ethanol on Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylene Groundwater Plumes
1.2.3. Evaluation of Ethanol Sampling and Analytical Methods

1.3. Potential Effects of Ethanol on Site Remediation Activities

1.3.1. BTEX Mass Extraction Approaches
1.3.2. BTEX Bioremediation Approaches
1.3.3. How the Presence of Ethanol May Affect Remediation Process Performance

1.4 References

Chapter 2

2.1. Introduction
2.2. Overview of the Fate of Ethanol-blended Gasoline in the Subsurface
2.3. Mechanism that Affect the Fate of Gasohol During Infiltration and Spreading

2.3.1. Partitioning Behavior
2.3.2. Changes in Capillary Forces and Multiphase Flow Due to Presence of Ethanol

2.4. Research Approach

2.4.1. Materials
2.4.2. Methods

2.5. Results

2.5.1. Impact of ethanol On Capillarity
2.5.2. Characterization of Effects of Ethanol on Flow in the Unsaturated Zone
2.5.3. Infiltration and Distribution of Ethanol-blended Gasoline
2.5.4. Infiltration and Distribution of Denatured Ethanol Spills

2.6. Implicatons

2.6.1. Ethanol-blended Gasoline
2.6.2. Ethanol Spills at Bulk Distribution Terminals

2.7. Conclusions
2.8. Recommendations
2.9. Acknowledgements
2.10. Refererences

Chapter 3

3.1. Introduction
3.2. Scope of Work and Specific Objectives
3.3. Methodology

3.3.1. Microcosm Degradation Assays

3.4. Sacrificial Microcosms for Molecular Analysis of the Microbial Community
3.5. Aquifer Columns

3.5.1. Breakthrough Experiments
3.5.2. Natural Attenuation Profiles Along Aquifer Columns

3.6. Analytical Methods
3.7. Results and Discussion

3.7.1. Microcosm Degradation Assays
3.7.2. Summary of Microcosm Degradation Assays

3.8. Effect of Ethanol and MtBE on BTEX Retardation
3.9. Effect of Ethanol and MtBE on BTEX Breakthrough from Non-Sterile Columns
3.10. Natural Attenuation Profiles Along Aquifer Columns
3.11. Conclusions
3.12. Recommendations
3.13. Acknowledgements
3.14. References

Chapter 4

4.1. Introduction
4.2. Materials and Methods

4.2.1. Microcosm Construction and Sampling
4.2.2. DNA Extraction
4.2.3. Real-Time, Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RTQ-PCR)
4.2.4. Data Analysis
4.2.5. Analysis of Toluene and Ethanol

4.3. Results

4.3.1. Performance of RTQ-PCR Methods Developed for this Study

4.4. Travis AFB Microcosms

4.4.1. Denitrifying Conditons
4.4.2. Sulfate-reducing Conditions
4.4.3. Methanogenic Conditions
4.4.4. Ferric Iron-amended Conditions

4.5. Northwest Terminal Microcosms

4.5.1. Denitrifying Conditions
4.5.2. Sulfate-reducing Conditions

4.6. Sacramento Microcosms

4.6.1. Denitrifying Conditions

4.7. Tracy Microcosms

4.7.1. Denitrifying Conditions

4.8. Discussion
4.9. Conclusions
4.10. Recommendations
4.11. References

Chapter 5

5.1. Introduction
5.2. Methodology
5.3. Results
5.4. Conclusion
5.5. Recommendations
5.6. References

Chapter 6

6.1. Introduction
6.2. Materials and Methods

6.2.1. Materials
6.2.2. In-house Ethanol Analysis Protocol
6.2.3. Storage Study Sample Treatments
6.2.4. Laboratory Comparison Study

6.3. Results

6.3.1. Sample Storage Studies
6.3.2. Contract Analytical Laboratory Comparisons

6.4. Conclusions
6.5. Recommendations
6.6. Acknowledgements
6.7. References

Miscellaneous files

Cover - Color [71-KB PDF]
Cover - Black and White [57-KB PDF]
Contents [310-KB PDF]
Acknowledgements [15-KB]