Presentation
Testing the effectiveness of EEM-PARAFAC analysis to monitor surface spills of diluted bitumen and diesel fuels
SessionMeet the Poster Authors
DescriptionDuring an oil spill response, having a rapid, accurate method to monitor oil in the environment is essential to direct response activities and take precautionary measures. Using samples from a series of mesocosm experiments, we sought to test the ability of excitation-emission spectra coupled with parallel factor analysis (EEM-PARAFAC) to discriminate between seawater samples contaminated with diluted bitumen, diesel fuel or uncontaminated seawater. We also investigated the ability to characterize samples based on potential toxicity and concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). EEM-PARAFAC analysis generated a 5-component model with three of the components associated with hydrocarbons. Using these three components, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) determined that 68.8% of samples could be correctly assigned to either control, diluted bitumen or diesel, with less than 8% being incorrectly assigned as control samples. Unfortunately, 23.7% of samples were identified as having no detectable toxicity by fluorescence although light inhibition detected by a Microtox® assay indicated potential toxicity. LDA was also applied to identify samples with no detectable PAHs, low PAHs (<200 ng L-1) or high PAHs (>200 ng L-1). While relatively successful, the analysis showed that almost 9% of samples with high concentrations of PAHs were classified as having no detectable PAHs and over 12% were classified as being high concentration samples despite having <200 ng L-1 PAHs. To implement fluorescence analysis for surface spills, further analysis is needed to understand the limitations of the method and the disparity between measured parameters such as potential toxicity, PAHs concentrations and fluorescence.
Event Type
Poster
TimeMonday, May 13th5:00pm - 6:00pm CDT
LocationExhibit Hall G
Preparedness
Prevention
Remediation
Response
Restoration