Abstract
Total petroleum hydrocarbons in water samples as well as solid wastes are quantified using U.S. EPA Method 418.1. This method involves the liquid-liquid extraction of the total petroleum hydrocarbon followed by quantitative determination using infrared spectroscopy. A series of standard solutions are prepared by mixing iosoctane, hexadecane and chlorobenzene as the reference standards. The absorption of the standard and sample solutions is measured at 2930 cm -1 . In the present study, it was discovered that chlorobenzene does not have any appreciable absorption at 2930 cm -1 and therefore does not contribute toward the overal absorptions of the standard solutions. We conclude that the addition of carcinogenic chlorobenzene for the preparation of standard solutions as described in Method 418.1 is unnecessary and leads to a value of total petroleum hydrocarbons which is 33% higher than what may actually be present
Published Version
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