THE HISTORY OF LEADED PETROL IN NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE

摘要

Environmental forensic scientists require an in-depth knowledge of petroleum products, such as petrol, diesel fuels, furnace fuels and other distillates. In the United States, over one billion liters of automotive petrol are manufactured each day. Therefore, if even a small percentage is spilled, environmental problems can be serious and make subsequent litigation quite frequent. In criminal cases with detectives and murderers, the history of a potential murder suspect and the victim need to be understood to quickly and efficiently solve the crime. In this same manner, environmental forensic scientists need an historical knowledge of the contaminants being investigated. In the following paragraphs, the history of leaded petrol, a product used worldwide for nine decades in North America and Europe, will be described in the context of environmental investigative work. Much of the historical information may be useful in unraveling the background of petrol releases and identifying potential responsible parties.