Tm. Cummins et al., A water extraction, static headspace sampling, gas chromatographic method to determine MTBE in heating oil and diesel fuel, ENV SCI TEC, 35(6), 2001, pp. 1202-1208
Citations number
17
Categorie Soggetti
Environment/Ecology,"Environmental Engineering & Energy
A method was developed to determine the fuel/water partition coefficient (K
-MTBE) Of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) and then used to determine low par
ts per million concentrations of MTBE in samples of heating oil and diesel
fuel. A special capillary column designed for the separation of MTBE and to
prevent coelution and a gas chromatograph equipped with a photoionization
detector (PID) were used. MTBE was partitioned from fuel samples into water
during an equilibration step. The water samples were then analyzed for MTB
E using static headspace sampling followed by GC/PID. A mathematical relati
onship was derived that allowed a KMTBE value to he calculated by utilizing
the fuel/water volume ratios and the corresponding PID signal. K-MTBE valu
es were found to range linearly from 3.8 to 10.9 over a temperature range o
f 5-40 degreesC. This analysis method gave a MDL of 0.7 ppm MTBE in the fue
l and a relative average accuracy of +/- 15% by comparison with an independ
ent laboratory using purge and trap GC/ MS analysis. MTBE was found in home
heating oil in residential tanks and in diesel fuel at service stations th
roughout the state of Connecticut. The levels of MTBE were found to vary si
gnificantly with time. Heating oil and diesel fuel from terminals were also
found to contain MTBE. This research suggests that the reported widespread
contamination of groundwater with MTBE may also be due to heating oil and
diesel fuel releases to the environment.