EVALUATING PEATS FOR THEIR CAPACITIES TO EXTRACT METHYL TERTIARY BUTYL ETHER FROM CONTAMINATED WATER USING GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY WITH SOLID-PHASE MICROEXTRACTION

Methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), the most common fuel additive used to oxygenate gasoline, is being detected more frequently in drinking water supplies. This research investigates the capacities of different highly characterized peats to extract MTBE from contaminated water. Peat samples were slurried under controlled conditions in aqueous solutions of MTBE for 24 hours. Liquid portions of the samples were analyzed for MTBE concentrations using a GC/MS Solid-phase Microextraction (GC/MS-SPME) method and were compared to samples of the MTBE solution (without peat addition) to determine the peats' MTBE sorption capacities.

The GC/MS-SPME results indicate that all tested peats worked well at sorbing MTBE from an aqueous solution. Although this was so, some peats tended to work better than others. The Maine Sphagnum and the Okefenokee Nymphaea peats worked best at sorbing the MTBE (at 98 and 95% MTBE reductions, respectfully). The Loxahatchee Nymphaea and the Snuggedy Swamp peats worked fairly well (at 78 and 51% MTBE reductions, respectfully). The Okefenokee Taxodium and the North Carolina peats did not work as well at sorbing the MTBE (at 24 and 14% MTBE reductions, respectfully). The hemic to fibric peats worked best at sorbing the MTBE (78-98% MTBE reductions), while the more sapric peats did not work as well (14-51% MTBE reductions). Overall, the peats that were the most effective at extracting MTBE from water tended to have higher hydraulic conductivities, microporosities, macroporosities, water holding capacities, fiber contents, total pyranones contents, total furanones contents, but lower bulk densities, total furans contents, fulvic acids contents, and humic acids contents. These results suggest that peats could possibly be used as filtration, or sorption, media to remediate surface water or groundwater that is contaminated with MTBE.