Evidence for Phytodegradation of MTBE from Coupled Bench-Scale and Intermediate-Scale Tests
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 133, Issue 4
Abstract
This paper presents methodologies and demonstrates the need to couple bench-scale and intermediate tree-scale experiments, to fully understand the transport and fate of organic contaminants, specifically methyl tert butyl ether (MTBE), in mature trees. Bench-scale experiments showed MTBE to be optimally taken up by small poplar saplings with a transpiration stream concentration factor of approximately 1, little or no degradation in soils and, nearly recovery in the coupled water-plant-air system, indicating no measurable phytodegradation at the bench-scale. A large tree chamber was designed to evaluate MTBE transport and fate through intermediate-scale ( tall) poplar trees. Abiotic MTBE volatilization tests conducted in the tree chamber showed MTBE mass recovery, thereby demonstrating the integrity of the large chamber and its air monitoring technique. In contrast, replicate intermediate-scale experiments conducted with large trees irrigated with a known mass of MTBE showed a deficit of MTBE mass recovery in replicate soil-tree-air systems monitored over a 2-week period. More significantly, tert butyl alcohol (TBA), a degradation product of MTBE, was detected in increasing concentrations in leaf biomass while MTBE concentrations in leaf biomass decreased as the experiment progressed. The MTBE mass recovery deficit, coupled with the detection of increasing TBA in leaf biomass, provides preliminary evidence of MTBE degradation in mature trees.
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Acknowledgments
This research was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation 1998 POWRE Program, Award No. NSF9806228. The writers thank Vince Marti and fellow coworkers at the EPA Region 08 Laboratory as well as the Environmental Sciences Department at UCD.
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© 2007 ASCE.
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Received: Jun 15, 2005
Accepted: Jul 10, 2006
Published online: Apr 1, 2007
Published in print: Apr 2007
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