Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Comparisons of Four Methods for Measuring Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Short-term Weathering Effect in Soils Contaminated by Crude Oil and Fuel Oils

  • Published:
Water, Air, & Soil Pollution Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) is an important parameter for evaluating risk and establishing cleanup requirements at petroleum release sites. However, different analytical methods may provide incomparable results. To select more appropriate method and design cost-effective remediation strategy, a comparison study of four analytical methods (gravimetric method, infrared spectrometry (IR), gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID), and ultraviolet spectrophotometer (UV)) is conducted for soil samples spiked by crude oil and fuel oils under both non-weathered and short-term weathered conditions. The gravimetric method produces higher TPH recovery for less volatile samples such as samples contaminated by motor oil and crude oil. The UV method reports very low TPH recovery and thus fails to provide the meaningful results in all tested samples. The IR method is a quick and relatively inexpensive screening tool and generally gives high TPH recovery, but the method precision and reproducibility are relatively low. The GC-FID method is relatively expensive and time consuming, but it has several advantages: (1) is more selective to hydrocarbons; (2) the method precision and reproducibility is relatively high; (3) is able to provide chemical fingerprint information. Therefore, appropriate method and should be chosen carefully depending on oil contamination type and investigation purpose. The results of short-term simulated weathering experiment showed 99.6% and 65.3% of TPH measured by the GC-FID method were removed for the kerosene and diesel contaminated soils after 14 days of weathering at 50ºC, respectively. We have provided evidence that weathering is an important attenuation pathway at kerosene and diesel spill sites. We can design the most cost-effective remediation strategy according to different oil types spilled.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adeniji, A. O., Okoh, O. O., & Okoh, A. I. (2017). Analytical methods for the determination of the distribution of total petroleum hydrocarbons in the water and sediment of aquatic systems: A review. Journal of Chemistry, 2017, 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruckberger, M., Bastow, T., Morgan, M., Gleeson, D., Banning, N., Davis, G. & Puzon, G.: 2018, Biodegradability of polar compounds formed from weathered diesel, Biodegradation 29(5):443-461.

  • CRC-CARE: 2008, Review of current international approaches to total petroleum hydrocarbon assessment (CRC CARETechnical Report no. 8), in L. Tuczynowicz & N. Robinson (Eds.)Adelaide, Australia, CRC for contamination assessment and remediation of the environment.

  • CRC-CARE: 2009, Characterisation of sites impacted by petroleum hydrocarbons: National guideline document (CRC CARETechnical Report no. 11), in L. Clements, T. Palaia & J. Davis (Eds.)Adelaide, Australia, CRC for contamination assessment and remediation of the environment.

  • Douglas, G. S., Bence, A. E., Prince, R. C., McMillen, S. J., & Butler, E. L. (1996). Environmental stability of selected petroleum hydrocarbon source and weathering ratios. Environmental Science & Technology, 30, 2332–2339.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • ITRC: 2019, LNAPL site management: LCSM evolution, decision process, and remedial technologies, Washington, DC, USA, Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council.

  • Jourdan, B., Ollivier, J., & Thomas, O. (2003). Determination of organic matter in grinding sludges by UV spectrophotometry. Environmental Technology, 24, 597–603.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Katika, K., Ahkami, M., Fosbøl, P. L., Halim, A. Y., Shapiro, A., Thomsen, K., Xiarchos, I., & Fabricius, I. L. (2016). Comparative analysis of experimental methods for quantification of small amounts of oil in water. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 147, 459–467.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Khan, M. A. I., Biswas, B., Smith, E., Naidu, R., & Megharaj, M. (2018). Toxicity assessment of fresh and weathered petroleum hydrocarbons in contaminated soil- A review. Chemosphere, 212, 755–767.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krupcik, J., Oswald, P., Oktavec, D., & Armstrong, D. W. (2004). Calibration of GC-FID and IR spectrometric methods for determination of high boiling petroleum hydrocarbons in environmental samples. Water Air and Soil Pollution, 153, 329–341.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maletic, S. P., Dalmacija, B. D., Roncevic, S. D., Agbaba, J. R., & Perovic, S. D. (2011). Impact of hydrocarbon type, concentration and weathering on its biodegradability in soil. Journal of Environmental Science and Health. Part a, Toxic/hazardous Substances & Environmental Engineering, 46, 1042–1049.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mao, L. H., & Han, X. M. (2013). Study of ultraviolet spectrophotometer for rapid analysis of oil content in the oil-contaminated soil. Advanced Materials Research, 864–867, 930–934.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marafi, M., Stanislaus, A., & Furimsky, E. (2010). Chapter 2 - Developments in petroleum refining. In M. Marafi, A. Stanislaus, & E. Furimsky (Eds.), Handbook of Spent Hydroprocessing Catalysts (pp. 5–16). Elsevier.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • MEE: 2018, Soil environmental quality: Risk control standard for soil contamination of development land (GB36600–2018), Beijing, China, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China.

  • MEE: 2019, Technical guidelines for investigation on soil contamination of land for construction (HJ 25.1–2019), Beijing, China, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China.

  • Meyers, R. A.: 2004, Handbook of petroleum refining processes, McGraw-Hill handbooks 2004, 8

  • Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China. (2016). HJ 783–2016 Soil and sediment-extraction of organic compounds-pressurized fluid extraction (PFE). China Standards Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China. (2018). HJ 970–2018 Water quality-Determination of petroleum-Ultraviolet spectrophotometric method. China Standards Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China. (2019a). HJ 1021–2019 Soil and sediment-Determination of petroleum hydrocarbons(C10–C40)-Gas chromatography. China Standards Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China. (2019b). HJ 1051–2019 Soil-Determination of petroleum oil-Infrared spectrophotometry. China Standards Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nadim, F., Liu, S. L., Hoag, G. E., Chen, J. P., Carley, R. J., & Zack, P. (2002). A comparison of spectrophotometric and gas chromatographic measurements of heavy petroleum products in soil samples. Water Air and Soil Pollution, 134, 97–109.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pikovskii, Y. I., Korotkov, L. A., Smirnova, M. A., & Kovach, R. G. (2017). Laboratory analytical methods for the determination of the hydrocarbon status of soils (a review). Eurasian Soil Science, 50, 1125–1137.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Risdon, G. C., Pollard, S. J. T., Brassington, K. J., McEwan, J. N., Paton, G. I., Semple, K. T., & Coulon, Fdr. (2008). Development of an analytical procedure for weathered hydrocarbon contaminated soils within a UK Risk-based framework. Analytical Chemistry, 80, 7090–7096.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz, G., Ben-Dor, E., & Eshel, G. (2012). Quantitative Analysis of total petroleum hydrocarbons in soils: Comparison between reflectance spectroscopy and solvent extraction by 3 certified laboratories. Applied and Environmental Soil Science, 2012, 1–11.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Speight, J. G. (2020a). Chapter 2 - Sources of hydrocarbons. In J. G. Speight (Ed.), Handbook of industrial hydrocarbon processes (2nd ed., pp. 45–93). Gulf Professional Publishing.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Speight, J. G. (2020b). Chapter 3 - Hydrocarbons from crude oil. In J. G. Speight (Ed.), Handbook of industrial hydrocarbon processes (2nd ed., pp. 95–142). Gulf Professional Publishing.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Tang, J., Lu, X., Sun, Q., & Zhu, W. (2012). Aging effect of petroleum hydrocarbons in soil under different attenuation conditions. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 149, 109–117.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Urum, K., Pekdemir, T., & Copur, M. (2004). Surfactants treatment of crude oil contaminated soils. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 276, 456–464.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • USEPA: 2005, A decision-making framework for cleanup of sites impacted with light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPL) (EPA 542-R-04-011), Washington, DC, USA, United States Environmental Protection Agency

  • USEPA: 2016, Expedited Site assessment tools for underground storage tank sites: A Guide for regulators (EPA 510-B-16-004), Washington, DC, USA, United States Environmental Protection Agency

  • Varjani, S. J. (2017). Microbial degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons. Bioresource Technology, 223, 277–286.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vershinin, V. I., & Petrov, S. V. (2016). The estimation of total petroleum hydrocarbons content in waste water by IR spectrometry with multivariate calibrations. Talanta, 148, 163–169.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Villalobos, M., Avila-Forcada, A. P., & Gutierrez-Ruiz, M. E. (2008). An improved gravimetric method to determine total petroleum hydrocarbons in contaminated soils. Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 194, 151–161.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, J., Zhang, X., & Li, G. (2011). Detailed characterization of polar compounds of residual oil in contaminated soil revealed by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. Chemosphere, 85, 609–615.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Xie, G., Barcelona, M. J., & Fang, J. (1999). Quantification and interpretation of total petroleum hydrocarbons in sediment samples by a GC/MS method and comparison with EPA 418.1 and a rapid field method. Analytical Chemistry, 71, 1899–1904.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zemo, D. A., & Foote, G. R. (2003). The technical case for eliminating the use of the TPH analysis in assessing and regulating dissolved petroleum hydrocarbons in ground water. Ground Water Monitoring and Remediation, 23, 95–104.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zemo, D. A., O’Reilly, K. T., Mohler, R. E., Magaw, R. I., Espino Devine, C., Ahn, S., & Tiwary, A. K. (2017). Life cycle of petroleum biodegradation metabolite plumes, and implications for risk management at fuel release sites. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 13, 714–727.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zemo, D. A., Synowiec, K. A., Magaw, R. I., & Mohler, R. E. (2013). Comparison of shake and column silica gel cleanup methods for groundwater extracts to be analyzed for TPHd/DRO. Groundwater Monitoring & Remediation, 33, 108–112.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, J., Wang, Z., Sun, J., Wei, L., Wang, B., Ma, J. & Chen, Z.: 2010, Ultrasound-UV method detect oil content of oily sludge from daqing oilfield, in Z. Y. Du & X. B. Sun (Eds.), Environment Materials and Environment Management Pts 1–3, 2292 pp.

  • Zheng, F., Chung, W. R., Palmisano, E., Dong, D. H., Shi, Q., Xu, Z. M., & Chung, K. H. (2019a). Molecular characterization of polar heteroatom species in oilsands bitumen-derived vacuum residue fractions by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. Petroleum Science, 16, 1196–1207.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zheng, T., Zheng, X., Wang, H., Xin, J., Zhang, B., & Walther, M. (2019b). Innovative techniques for measuring the oil content of oil-contaminated porous media. Ground Water Monitoring and Remediation, 39, 78–83.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

The authors received financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21878332, 42177042), Beijing NOVA program (Z181100006218088), Science Foundation of China University of Petroleum-Beijing (2462018BJC003), and PetroChina Innovation Foundation (2018D-5007–0607).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Pollution Control, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing, 102249, China

    Yue Sun, Jie Ma, Gangsen Yue, Shuyu Liu & Hanyu Liu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Pollution Control, CNPC Research Institute of Safety and Environmental Technology, Beijing, 102206, China

    Quanwei Song & Baichun Wu

Authors
  1. Yue Sun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jie Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Gangsen Yue
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Shuyu Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Hanyu Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Quanwei Song
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Baichun Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jie Ma.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sun, Y., Ma, J., Yue, G. et al. Comparisons of Four Methods for Measuring Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons and Short-term Weathering Effect in Soils Contaminated by Crude Oil and Fuel Oils. Water Air Soil Pollut 232, 381 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-021-05341-7

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-021-05341-7

Keywords

Search

Navigation