Estimating the Influence of Ethanol on MTBE Biodegradation Rates Using Compound-Specific Isotope Analysis (Abstract)

摘要

Compound specific isotope analysis (CSIA) has the potential to assess the contribu- tion of biodegradation to the natural attenuation of MTBE at contaminated field sites. CSIA measures the changes in carbon isotopes ( C) during microbial degradation. During biodegradation, molecules containing the light isotopes react at slightly faster rate than those containing heavier isotopes resulting in the progressive isotopic enrichment of the heavy isotope in the remaining contaminant (i.e. C/12C MTBE increases and 13 13 C becomes less negative).