This Americas Program award will support Dr. Pedro J. Alvarez of the University of Iowa and Dr. Susan E. Powers of Clarkson University, in collaboration with Dr. Henry X. Corseuil of the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil. The aim of the project is to form an international research coordination group to provide a forum for timely communication among environmental scientists and engineers studying how the increased use of ethanol in gasoline might affect the fate and transport of petroleum product spills and related risk assessment and remediation activities. The group would (1) identify pertinent knowledge gaps, uncertainties, and research needs; and (2) coordinate research activities to avoid duplicative efforts and facilitate the sharing of the data.
Brazil has over 20 years of experience in dealing with ethanol in gasoline. Communication among researchers will advance our basic understanding of the transport and fate of ethanol and fuel hydrocarbons in the presence of ethanol, and contribute to the development of new tools for environmental and risk assessment.
