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Test PAHs, EPH and GRO using Sitelab's UVF-3100D analyzer to identify your site's contamination...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See how PAHs and Benzo[a]Pyrene are tested using Sitelab's TD-500 analyzer:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learn more about Sitelab's PAH Calibration Kit...

   Save time and money on your next project using Sitelab’s portable UVF-3100D analyzer.  In less than 10 minutes, samples are extracted in solvent and then accurately measured for Target PAHs using Sitelab’s PAH calibration kit.  Detection limits are as low as 50 ppb.  Test results will directly correlate to the sum of PAHs reported by EPA Method 8270.  When the optics are rotated, samples can also be tested for Total PAHs (or EPH aromatics), and the ratios or “signatures” exhibited provide helpful forensic fingerprinting data.
 
Total PAHs:
EPH C11-C22 Aromatic
Hydrocarbons
Target PAHs:
Using UVF-3100
Slot D Optics
vs. Sum of PAHs: Confirmatory Lab
EPA 8270 GC/MS

 Power Plant - Coal Ash/Clinker Site:
 
   Sitelab is used to test PAHs for monitoring the  progress of a bioremediation project performed by an environmental engineering firm.  The site is a former power plant located at a U.S. Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina.
 


 Manufactured Gas Plant – Coal Tar Site:

 
   A contractor used Sitelab during a site assessment testing river sediments contaminated from a former manufactured gas plant in Colorado.  Like many MGP sites throughout the country, this site contains a subsurface plume of DNAPL oil, comprised of old coal tar, leftover from long ago.
 

 Petroleum Tank Farm - Fuel Oil Site: 
 
   A consultant used Sitelab during a site investigation testing soil borings for PAHs on a tank farm located along Boston Harbor in Massachusetts.  The subsurface soils were contaminated by a large commingled plume of diesel fuel and No. 6 fuel oil.
 
   

Go to the bottom of this page to learn how the different EPH to PAH ratios shown above are used for hydrocarbon fingerprinting


Need to Test Benzo[a]Pyrene?

   A contractor performing work at a former military shooting range, sent samples to Sitelab to perform PAH analysis.  The soils were contaminated with lead shot and clay pigeons.  Clay pigeon targets are made with limestone mixed with petroleum asphalt pitch (often coal tar based), which contain high levels of Benzo[a]Pyrene and other PAH compounds as a result of the combustion process.

   Although Sitelab's UVF instruments cannot separately detect PAH compounds directly, response factors can be used to estimate and report Benzo[a]Pyrene or other problematic compounds accurately.  The samples tested during this pilot study were blind, well homogenized split samples previously tested by a certified lab using EPA Method 8270 by GC/MS. 

   Since the Sitelab Target PAH concentrations were close to the laboratory's total PAH concentrations, and the proportion of Benzo[a]Pyrene to the other PAHs was consistent, as reported by the lab, using a response factor to adjust the Sitelab results in order to estimate Benzo[a]Pyrene generated accurate and reliable data.  Sitelab's results can then be used on-site to help with soil removal, remediation and investigation efforts.

 

 

Click here for details

PAH and TPH Applications using Sitelab's TD-500D to Monitor DNAPL Coal Tar:

   Sitelab’s hand-held TD-500D analyzer is also a cost-effective field tool for delineating MGP and other PAH contaminated sites.  The analyzer is very sensitive to the heavy 4 and 5-ring PAH compounds common in coal tars, creosotes and coal ash.  If the site contains a coal tar plume of DNAPL (dense non aqueous phase liquids), the oil can be used to calibrate the analyzer, allowing accurate TPH measurement.  Results correlate well to laboratory TPH GC methods.

 

» Click here for more applications using Sitelab's TD-500D


 
PAH Fingerprinting for Hydrocarbon Identification

 

 

     This time saving feature allows you to test samples for both PAH fractions at once, by rotating the optics on the UVF-3100D analyzer from Slot D to Slot A and re-analyzing the sample.  The instrument does not need to be recalibrated.  The PAH standards respond the same.  But the ratios, or proportions, of a sample’s Total PAH and Target PAH concentration will vary, depending on how old and what type of petroleum contamination exists.

Example:  Soil below a fuel oil tank once containing heating oil is 1,000 ppm EPH and 40 ppm Target PAH.  The drop in concentration is 25 times lower, indicating the spill is not fresh, but fairly weathered and degraded (see chart to right).

     The Target PAH optics are an integral part of Sitelab’s fluorescence fingerprinting method for hydrocarbon identification.  PAHs can also be analyzed using Sitelab's TD-500 analyzer, which is sensitive to the 4 and 5-ring compounds and will yield different PAH results compared to the EPH and PAHs tested by the UVF-3100D.  As a fourth test, GRO analysis can also be performed using the UVF-3100D for GRO, requiring a separate calibration for testing the volatile C6-C10 BTEX fraction.  In all, the fluorescence signatures exhibited provides additional forensic screening data useful for delineating sites having unknown petroleum sources.

 

 

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»Click here for UVF Fingerprinting Applications

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