Can Diesel Fuel, #2 Fuel Oil or Home Heating Oil Be Age-dated?
A recent peer reviewed paper* claims accurate age-dating of biodegraded diesel fuel spills can be accomplished from fresh releases to 20-year-old releases within “2 years with 95% confidence. The authors use the ratio of concentrations of two specific compounds found in the fuels. Both compounds contain seventeen carbon atoms but have different structures. This premise is reasonable because scientists agree that the rate of aerobic biodegradation of compound A (heptadecane) is faster than that of compound B (pristane). Therefore, a high ratio of A to B would indicate that the petroleum product is less degraded than a sample having a lower ratio. The authors showed a linear relationship between the decreasing ratio and the age of the release. Since publication of this paper, many so-called experts have used these data to age-date diesel fuel spills. But, is the use of these data for age-dating petroleum product releases valid? Closer review of the paper reveals several conditions that m
