Impact of new diesel fuels used in port operations on subsurface quality

Details

• Creators:
  Sciortino, Antonell
• Corporate Creators:
  California State University, Long Beach. Department of Civil Engineering and Construction Engineering Management
• Corporate Contributors:
  California. Department of Transportation
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Diesel fuels
  • Environmental aspects
  • California
  • Los Angeles
  • Subsurface drainage
  • Groundwater
  • Pollution
• Publication/ Report Number:
  AR 06-04
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  California
• Corporate Publisher:
  METRANS Transportation Center (Calif.)
• Abstract:
  Diesel is widely used as fuel for operations in the port of Los Angeles - Long ; Beach as well as for transport of goods to and from the port. Conventional diesel fuel ; contributes disproportional to air pollution (particulate matter, NOx, CO, and ; hydrocarbons). The arrival of low-sulfur diesel, which is already widely available in ; Japan and Europe, and other improvements in fuel and engine technology should ; greatly decrease the adverse impact of diesel on air quality. Examples of modifications ; are the use of diesel with ethanol as oxygenate (“diesohol”), biodiesel, and diesel with ; catalytic additives. Each fuel has some merits that need to be weighed against potential ; disadvantages. This proposal considers diesohol. Diesohol is already used in Europe ; and Brazil and is being investigated for wider use in the United States and Australia. In ; the past, scientists and decision makers were mainly concerned with the impact of ; diesel and gasoline on air quality. However, even under the best of circumstances ; release of diesel and fuel additives to the surface and subsurface environment cannot ; be ruled out. Accidental spillage and leakage may occur during production, transport, ; storage, handling, or use. ; In this study we quantified the impact of the release of a potential new diesel fuel ; on the movement and fate of contaminants in the aqueous phase of the unsaturated ; (vadose) and saturated zone of the subsurface. Existing software was modified to ; model subsurface flow in the vadose zone. The model accounts for the effect of ; surfactants (ethanol and other fuel additives) on flow properties, and the dissolution of ; diesel components (benzene in this case). The impact of ethanol on dissolution and ; degradation of fuels compounds and pre-existing organic contaminants in the ; groundwater has been analyzed using a model based on analytical solutions. ; The results of the study for the unsaturated zone suggest that, for the most ; common scenario of a particular water flux at the surface, water and dissolved ; substances will move somewhat farther in the underground. Ethanol reduces the ; amount of water that is retained by the porous medium. Furthermore, the concentration ; of contaminants such as benzene may be greatly increased due to the enhanced ; aqueous solubility. The analysis conducted for the saturated zone illustrated changes in ; contaminant plumes due to enhanced solubility and reduced biodegradation caused by ; ethanol. Contaminants such as benzene are more persistent in groundwater and the ; plume area exhibits a moderate increase if ethanol is present.
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• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/27685/dot_27685_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 512.85 KB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:17e1aa3039f86c6d0301d2349f486b190c5051863f37894bf6852393b10030f5