Composition of TPH in soil vs. specific organics
- IT Corp., Martinez, CA (United States)
Measures of total petroleum hydrocarbons as diesel and gasoline (TPH-F and TPH-G, respectively) often are used to make clean-up decisions at contaminated sites. Using TPH results in remediation decision making generally involves assuming, either implicitly or explicitly, that: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes (BTEX) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are the only chemicals of concern; or, that the TPH in the soil has the same chemical composition as the parent fuel. This paper presents data on the specific composition of approximately 420 soil samples taken at 20 sites in California that provide more information on the potential chemical constituents in the soil that are measured as TPH. Samples with similar TPH concentration can have significantly different concentrations of the BTEX and PAH constituents. When the concentrations of TPH-G and TPH-D were below detection (ie., less than 1 to 10 mg/kg), the concentrations of BTEX and PAH also were below detection or quite low (in the {mu}/kg range). This suggests TPH is a good screening level measure. However, often the concentrations of BTEX and PAHs were low or undetectable although the concentrations of TPH were measurable. These samples were also relatively low in concentrations of other alkylbenzenes and nontarget PAHs. The non-BTEX and target PAH compounds most frequently detected were branched alkanes, cyclical alkanes, and oxygenated forms (i.e., alcohol, aldehyde, and ketone forms) of the alkanes and alkenes found in petroleum fuels. Many of these latter chemicals have relatively high water solubilities but they are not highly toxic at environmental concentrations. Results suggest that assuming there are toxic chemicals in the soil when a sample contains a detectable concentrations of TPH can be misleading regarding the potential significance of the threats to human health from a petroleum spill.
- OSTI ID:
- 96659
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9504134-; TRN: 95:005315-0008
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: HAZMACON `95: hazardous materials management conference and exhibition, San Jose, CA (United States), 4-6 Apr 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Proceedings of HAZMACON `95: Hazardous materials management conference and exhibition; Bursztynsky, T.; Loss, M.L.; PB: 790 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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