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ANALYSIS OF SOIL AND HOUSE DUST FOR POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
Citation:
Chuang, J. C. ANALYSIS OF SOIL AND HOUSE DUST FOR POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-96/060 (NTIS PB96-177712), 1996.
Impact/Purpose:
information
Description:
It has been conjectured that jet turbine exhaust near airplane flight paths may result in significant human exposure to PAH. The fallout from the aerosol plume could be introduced into the residence directly as drafts through the interior of the house or through accumulation of PAH in soil and subsequent track-in to the residence. The EPA Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory (RREL)1 arranged access to a household located approximately eight miles from the end of a runway at the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Airport, and collected soil, wipe, and dust samples in and around the household. Battelle analyzed the collected samples for target polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). The objective of this study was to determine if abnormally high PAH concentrations existed in and around the selected household. The analytical method for the determination of PAH in soil and dust samples consists of sonication with 10 ml of hexane for two 30-min extractions, and analysis of the hexane extract by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The analytical method for determining PAH in wipe samples is comprised of Soxhlet extraction with dichloromethane (DCM), silica gel column chromatography, and analysis of the target fraction by GC/MS. Quantitative recoveries (greater than 80 percent) of spiked perdeuterated PAH were obtained from these samples. A total of 19 PAH ranging from naphthalene (2-ring) to coronene (7-ring), were measured. The sums of concentrations of the 19 PAH ranged from 0.13 to 0.88 ppm in soil samples, from 1.4 to 3.1 ug/m2 in wipe samples, and from 0.97 to 4.0 ppm in dust samples. The PAH concentrations in dust samples were higher than those in soil samples.