Analysis and Environmental Fate of Air Force Distillate and High Density Fuels

Abstract : Five high density fuels (RJ-4, RJ-5, RJ-6, JP-9, and JP-10) and three distillate fuels were analyzed by capillary column gas chromatography (GC). The major components of the distillate fuels were identified by gas chromatography- mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The molecular weight of the isomers of the high density fuel components were also determined, but the structures of only a few components were assigned by comparing the GC retention times with authentic samples. The concentration and identity of the major water-soluble fuel components were also identified. The volatilization rates of the water-soluble components of JP-4, JP-8, and JP-9 were measured by preparing solutions of the fuel components in water, stirring at three stirring rates, and measuring the rate of decrease of the concentration of each component by GC as a function of time. The water-soluble components of JP-4 were photolyzed for 21 days in sunlight in deionized water, natural seawater, and water from a local pond. The distribution of the fuel components was estimated, using the method recently proposed by Mackay and Patterson. The alkanes should partition almost entirely into the atmosphere, the monoaromatics should be in both the air and water, and the naphthalene should partition into the water and the sediment phases. Adsorption of the alkanes and monoaromatics should not be a major environmental fate. It is recommended that the rate of dissolution in water and evaporation of the pure fuels be studied in detail because they may be the rate-limiting transport processes.