ABSTRACT
Solvent stabilizers are a potentially useful forensic tool; however, very little work has been published documenting their application in completed studies. Forensic investigations into environmental contamination are usually oriented toward attributing responsibility to parties who used and released a contaminant and must therefore share in the burden of investigation and remediation. This chapter focuses on the potential for solvent stabilizers to persist and be detected in solvent plumes in a manner useful for various methods of analysis that can be applied toward deconvoluting commingled plumes of a common solvent. Forensic analysis of environmental data is hampered by a high degree of uncertainty regarding many of the parameters that can be leveraged to interpret the source and timing of a release. The chapter examines some of the factors that may contribute to or detract from the utility of solvent stabilizers in forensic investigations.
