ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors review the issue of modeling, or expressing in quantitative mathematical terms, the fate of individual hydrocarbons present in oil-contaminated soil. This is an important issue to the victims of petroleum contamination, to those who regulate this issue, and to those who may have caused the problem. To a first approximation, petroleum products are “insoluble” in that the fraction that dissolves is negligible. This is negligible from the point of view of bulk oil behavior. But this small amount is not negligible from the point of view of groundwater contamination. It takes only 1 g of oil to contaminate a cubic meter of water to a level of 1 ppm. The solubility, vapor pressure, and sorption coefficients of a specific oil reflect the combined properties of the individual constituents, weighted in proportion to the amount present. The chemistry of petroleum is reviewed comprehensively in the text by Speight.
