Evaluation of Technique for Detection of Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soils
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 2
Abstract
Soil and water samples frequently are analyzed for contamination at sites of known or suspected fuel or chemical spills. The objective of this research was to develop a soil field test method for gasoline hydrocarbons that was inexpensive, easy to use, and provided same-day results. A battery-operated sampling pump was used to pull air through gasoline-contaminated soil samples held in small plastic cassettes. The air and hydrocarbon vapors were directed through glass detector tubes filled with color-changing adsorbents. Hydrocarbon vapors converted chromic oxide coated on silica gel into chromium sulfate , which changed the adsorbent’s color. The length of color change in the tube was proportional to the mass of hydrocarbons in the soil. This technique had a limit of detection of for gasoline hydrocarbons and was sensitive to both fresh and 50% weathered gasoline. Soils could be tested for less than $20/sample, lower than the $50–$100 of traditional off-site analysis.
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Acknowledgments
The writers thank Gregory Pashia at the EPA, Adrian Dongel, Roger Dickey, and John Easton at SMU, and Bob Short at the Cherokee Nation. This work was supported by the Cherokee Nation through Contract No. UNSPECIFIED645729 via a grant from the EPA.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 2 • February 2008
Pages: 145 - 149
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 25, 2006
Accepted: Jul 19, 2007
Published online: Feb 1, 2008
Published in print: Feb 2008
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