Worldwide, anthropogenic contaminants emerge and enter into aquatic systems; their ubiquity in aquatic systems poses serious threats to both human health and ecological systems. As the demand for water continues to grow with population, treatment of wastewater and remediation of polluted aquatic systems are of critical concern. Ozonation and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are promising met...

A comprehensive optimization study on a simulated moving bed reactor (SMBR) system is reported in this article for the direct synthesis of methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) from tertiary butyl alcohol (TBA) and methanol. The applicability of the Varicol process, which is based on non-synchronous shift of the inlet and outlet ports, is explored for the first time for a reactive system. Multi-ob...

A dynamic modeling approach was used to estimate in-situ model parameters, which describe the degradation of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) in a laboratory packed bed reactor. The measured dynamic response of MTBE pulses injected at the reactor's inlet was analyzed by least squares and parameter response surface methodologies. Response surfaces were found to be statistically significant and thu...

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) has been used as a common gasoline additive worldwide since the late twentieth century, and it has become the most frequently detected groundwater pollutant in many countries. This study aimed to synthesize a novel microbial carrier to improve its adsorptive capacity for MTBE and biofilm formation, compared to the traditional granular activated carbon (GAC). A pol...

The goal of this case study is to examine how foresight, embodied in the precautionary principle, can lead to robust and flexible decisions that meet the needs of the present, but that can be adapted to meet the changing needs of the future. Recently there has been much debate over the use of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) in petrol. Concerns in particular over the potential for contamination o...

Pervaporation removal of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) from dilute aqueous solutions was demonstrated using ceramic-supported polymer (CSP) membranes. These membranes were created by the free radical graft polymerization of vinyl acetate onto a vinyl trimethoxysilaneactivated porous silica substrate having a native average pore size of 500 Å. The resulting membranes consisted of poly(vinyl ace...

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) has been the focus of much attention because it is used in large amounts and was reportedly relatively recalcitrant to bioremediation or natural attenuation. Beginning with a few papers a decade ago, evidence has been presented that, in fact, under suitable conditions it is amenable to bioremediation. Many species from widely disparate microbial genera are able to...

The contamination of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) in underground waters has become a widely concerned problem all over the world. In this study, a novel closed culture system with oxygen supplied by H2O2 was introduced for MTBE aerobic biodegradation. After 7 d, almost all MTBE was degraded by a pure culture, a member of beta-Proteobacteria named as PM1, in a closed system with oxygen supply,...

Methyl Tert-butyl Ether (MTBE) is an important chemical used as an octane booster in gasoline to replace tetra ethyl lead. Maximum production of the MTBE can be achieved using reactive distillation (RD) process at the optimum operating conditions and column configuration. However, optimizing the column configuration such as tray or catalyst location is experimentally expensive. Therefore, a rel...