Petroleum hydrocarbon detection

Storm runoff from an industrial site in Rhode Island used by oil distributors, scrap metal dealers, and metal finishers contained a hydrocarbon product resembling fuel oil no. 2. This product comprised 4% of the total petroleum hydrocarbons detected in the ranoff, most of which were associated with crankcase oil (Latimer et al. 1990). Two freighters collided off the coast of South Africa in 1992 the freighter transporting 160 tons of marine fuel oil and 53 tons of gas oil sank (Molden 1992). 

Klemba F, Gusso Rosado R H, Kamikawachi RC, Muller M, Fabris JL (2006) Optical fiber sensors for petroleum hydrocarbon detection in pipelines. XXIX Encontro Nacional de Fisica da Materia Condensada, 2006, Sao Louren o-Brazil. Optics Technical Digest, ID 559... 

M. W. Kemblowski and co-workers, "Fate and Transport of Residual Hydrocarbon in Ground Water A Case Study," Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Organic Chemicals in Ground Water Prevention, Detection, and Restoration, presented at the conference and exposition. National Water Well Association and American Petroleum Institute, Nov. 17—19, 1987. 

Commonly used methods for the determination of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination in soil are modifications of Environmental Protection Agency method 418.1, which use sonication or a Soxhlet apparatus for analyte extraction and either infrared spectrometry [5] or gas chromatography with flame ionization detection [6-7] for extract analysis. Regardless of the analytical method following the extraction, both modifications use Freon-113, which has been implicated as a cause of ozone depletion. Therefore, alternative methods are being sought for the determination of hydrocarbon contamination in environmental samples that reduce the need for this halogenated solvent. 

Kaplan, I. R., 1992, Characterizing Petroleum Contaminants in Soil and Water and Determining Source of Pollutants In Proceedings of the American Petroleum Institute Conference on Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Organic Chemicals in Ground Water Prevention, Detection and Restoration, pp. 3-18. 

Senn, R. B. and Johnson, M. S., 1985, Interpretation of Gas Chromatography Data as a Tool in Subsurface Hydrocarbon Investigations In Proceedings of the NWWA/API Conference on Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Organic Chemicals in Groundwater — Prevention, Detection and Restoration, National Water Well Association, Dublin, OH, pp. 331-357. 

Blake, S. B. and Fryberger, J. S., 1983, Containment and Recovery of Refined Hydrocarbons from Groundwater In Proceedings of Groundwater and Petroleum Hydrocarbons — Protection, Detection, Restoration, PACE, Toronto, Ontario. 

Huntley, D., Hawk, R. N., and Corley, H. P., 1992, Non-Aqueous Phase Hydrocarbon Saturations and Mobility in a Fine-Grained, Poorly Consolidated Sandstone In Proceedings of the 1992 Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Organic Chemicals in Groundwater Prevention, Detection, and Restoration, National Ground Water Association, Columbus, OH, pp. 223-237. 

Borden, R. C. and Chih-Ming, K., 1989, Water Flushing of Trapped Residual Hydrocarbons Mathematical Model Development and Laboratory Validation In Proceedings of the National Water Well Association Conferences on Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Organic Chemicals in Groundwater Prevention, Detection and Restoration, November, pp. 473 186. 

In addition to large oil spills, petroleum hydrocarbons are released into the aquatic environments from natural seeps as well as non-point-source urban runoffs. Acute impacts from massive one-time spills are obvious and substantial. The impacts from small spills and chronic releases are the subject of much speculation and continued research. Clearly, these inputs of petroleum hydrocarbons have the potential for significant environmental impacts, but the effects of chronic low-level discharges can be minimized by the net assimilative capacities of many ecosystems, resulting in little detectable environmental harm. 

Analysis for total petroleum hydrocarbons (EPA Method 418.1) provides a one-number value of the petroleum hydrocarbons in a given environmental medium. It does not, however, provide information on the composition (i.e., individual constituents) of the hydrocarbon mixture. The amount of hydrocarbon contaminants measured by this method depends on the ability of the solvent used to extract the hydrocarbon from the environmental media and the absorption of infrared light (infrared spectroscopy) by the hydrocarbons in the solvent extract. The method is not specific to hydrocarbons and does not always indicate petroleum contamination, since humic acid, a nonpetroleum material and a constituents of many soils, can be detected by this method. 

Some methods measure more compounds than other methods because they employ more rigorous extraction techniques or more efficient solvents for the extraction procedure(s). Other methods are subject to interferences from naturally occurring materials such as animal and vegetable oils, peat moss, or humic material, which may result in artificially high reported concentrations of the total petroleum hydrocarbons. Some methods use cleanup steps to minimize the effect of nonpetroleum hydrocarbons, with variable success. Ultimately, many of the methods are limited by the extraction efficiency and the detection limits of the instrumentation used for measurement. 

There are many analytical techniques available that measure total petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations in the environment, but no single method is satisfactory for measurement of the entire range of petroleum-derived hydrocarbons. In addition, and because the techniques vary in the manner in which hydrocarbons are extracted and detected, each method may be applicable to the measurement of different subsets of the petroleum-derived hydrocarbons present in a sample. The four most commonly used total petroleum hydrocarbon analytical methods include (1) gas chromatography (GC), (2) infrared spectrometry (IR), (3) gravimetric analysis, and (4) immunoassay (Table 7.1) (Miller, 2000, and references cited therein). 

Gas chromatographic methods are currently the preferred laboratory methods for measurement of total petroleum hydrocarbon measurement because they detect a broad range of hydrocarbons and provide both sensitivity and selectivity. In addition, identification and quantification of individual constituents of the total petroleum hydrocarbon mix is possible. 

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