TY - JOUR
T1 - Identification of refined petroleum products in contaminated soils using an identification index for GC chromatograms
AU - Kwon, Dongwook
AU - Ko, Myoung Soo
AU - Yang, Jung Seok
AU - Kwon, Man Jae
AU - Lee, Seung Woo
AU - Lee, Seunghak
PY - 2015/8/27
Y1 - 2015/8/27
N2 -
Hydrocarbons found in the environment are typically characterized by gas chromatography (GC). The shape of the GC chromatogram has been used to identify the source of petroleum contamination. However, the conventional practice of simply comparing the peak patterns of source products to those of environmental samples is dependent on the subjective decisions of individual analysts. We have developed and verified a quantitative analytical method for interpreting GC chromatograms to distinguish refined petroleum products in contaminated soils. We found that chromatograms for gasoline, kerosene, and diesel could be divided into three ranges with boundaries at C
6
, C
8
, C
16
, and C
26
. In addition, the relative peak area (RPA
GC
) of each range, a dimensionless ratio of the peak area within each range to that of the total range (C
6
–C
26
), had a unique value for each petroleum product. An identification index for GC chromatograms (ID
GC
), defined as the ratio of RPA
GC
of C
8
–C
16
to that of C
16
–C
26
, was able to identify diesel and kerosene sources in samples extracted from artificially contaminated soils even after weathering. Thus, the ID
GC
can be used to effectively distinguish between refined petroleum products in contaminated soils.
AB -
Hydrocarbons found in the environment are typically characterized by gas chromatography (GC). The shape of the GC chromatogram has been used to identify the source of petroleum contamination. However, the conventional practice of simply comparing the peak patterns of source products to those of environmental samples is dependent on the subjective decisions of individual analysts. We have developed and verified a quantitative analytical method for interpreting GC chromatograms to distinguish refined petroleum products in contaminated soils. We found that chromatograms for gasoline, kerosene, and diesel could be divided into three ranges with boundaries at C
6
, C
8
, C
16
, and C
26
. In addition, the relative peak area (RPA
GC
) of each range, a dimensionless ratio of the peak area within each range to that of the total range (C
6
–C
26
), had a unique value for each petroleum product. An identification index for GC chromatograms (ID
GC
), defined as the ratio of RPA
GC
of C
8
–C
16
to that of C
16
–C
26
, was able to identify diesel and kerosene sources in samples extracted from artificially contaminated soils even after weathering. Thus, the ID
GC
can be used to effectively distinguish between refined petroleum products in contaminated soils.
KW - Environmental forensics
KW - Gas chromatography
KW - Petroleum
KW - Soil contamination
KW - Source identification
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84937972018&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84937972018&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s11356-015-4465-z
DO - 10.1007/s11356-015-4465-z
M3 - Article
C2 - 25874431
AN - SCOPUS:84937972018
VL - 22
SP - 12029
EP - 12034
JO - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
JF - Environmental Science and Pollution Research
SN - 0944-1344
IS - 16
ER -