Aliphatic hydrocarbons groundwater

As may be apparent from many of the examples presented above, models of processes that affect the fate and transport in groundwater of petroleum hydrocarbons and chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons are much more prevalent than models of other contaminants. Much research has yet to be accomplished to improve our understanding and ability to model transformation processes, particularly for contaminants like polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, nitro-aromatics, and pesticides. 

The chemical manufacturers themselves perceived even more clearly than outsiders the dangers that chlorinated solvents posed to groundwater. Chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbon compounds, some of them identical to materials used as solvents and all having properties similar to the solvents, were sold to farmers for use in the soil of their fields. The industry worked hard to understand how these chemicals behave in the ground. 

Figure 17.1.2. The ranges in degradation half-lives for the chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons, F-11 and F-113, and ketones in surface water, groundwater, and soil (data from Howard et al. " ).

D. W. Acton, Enhanced In Situ Biodegradation of Aromatic and Chlorinated Aliphatic Hydrocarbons in Anaerobic, Leachate-impacted Groundwaters, M. Sc. thesis University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada, 1990. 

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