health and safety plan solid waste management unit assessment

EIWLENE GLYCOL 43-7
Data on ethylene glycol volatilization from soils, in particular,
are not available. Ethylene glycol is not strongly a&orbed to soil
and is highly soluble in water. Although some volatilization may occur
at the surface; the low value of the Henry's law constant (6 x 10-0
atm*m3/mole) suggests that vapor concentrations in soil will be low
whenever water is present and volatilization will be minimal.
43.2.2 Transformation Processes in Soil/Ground-water Systems
No information was available on the non-biological degradation of
ethylene glycol in the environment. Thermo-oxidative degradation to
organic acids has been reported for ethylene glycol used as an antifreeze
mixture (866).
A variety of studies have reported that ethylene glycol can be
readily biodegraded under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions (867,
865,868,864,869,879). Data on degradation by microorganisms isolated
from soil are contradictory. Harada and Nagashima (871) reported
growth and nongrowth with ethylene glycol as sole carbon source.
Jensen (872) reported no degradation using microbes isolated from soil.
Gaston and Stadtman (868) reported rapid degradation under anaerobic
conditions using microbes isolated from mud.
Degradation using activated sludge microorganisms or sewage seed
was rapid; complete degradation within a few days was reported in
several studies (873,874,875,876,877,878). Concentrations up to 2000
PPm were shown to support microbial growth, with an optimum
concentration of 200 ppm reported. However, some concentrations above
1000 ppm were inhibitory (879); concentrations above 10,000 ppm inhibited
growth of activated sludge (863).
In actual soil/ground-water systems, the concentrations of microorganisms
capable of degrading ethylene glycol may be low, and may drop
off with increasing depth; prediction of biodegradation rates in the
environment is not possible. However, since both aerobic and anaerobic
degradation have been demonstrated, persistence of ethylene glycol in
environments with sufficient active microbial populations. is not
expected.
43.2.3 Primary Routes of Exposure from Soil/Ground-water Systems
The above discussion of fate pathways suggests that ethylene
glycol is essentially nonvolatile, is very weakly adsorbed to soil, and
has no significant potential for bioaccumulation. These fate
characteristics suggest several potential exposure pathways.
The potential for ground water contamination with ethylene glycol
is high, particularly in sandy soils. It has been detected in ground
water associated with hazardous waste sites. Mitre (83) reported that
ethylene glycol has been found in 1 of the 546 National Priority List
(NPL) sites. At this particular site it was detected in surface water.
However, it may not be commonly analyzed'for at NPL sites as it is not
a priority pollutant and is not commonly thought to be of concern to
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