Analytical investigation of some organic compounds from contaminated areas with petroleum products

The role of soil within an ecosystem is to be an interface between air, surface water and underground water and also a zone of transit or accumulation for majority of organic and inorganic pollutants. Soil oil pollution represents a great environmental threat as it may contaminate the neighborhood soils and surface and underground water. Contamination may occur anywhere during crude oil extraction and treatment, oil product transportation, storing and utilization. The Romanian Environmental legislation, according to Order 756/97 sets the normal values for petroleum products in soil below 100 mg/kg d.m., between 200–1000 mg/kg d.m. for alert levels and between 500–2000 mg/kg d.m. for intervention levels. The objectives of these analytical investigations were to assess the magnitude of pollution with petroleum hydrocarbons within oil feld and the vertical and horizontal extent of soil contamination. The samples were collected in different locations throughout the Romanian oil felds and were analysed for mineral oil, BTEX compounds (benzene, toluene, methylbenzene and xylene) and PAHs (polycyclic arenic hydrocarbons) (11 compounds). Important differences of the organic level of pollution were observed as function of the position and depth of the soil samples investigated. The obtained values varied within the following ranges: from 25 to 1718 mg/kg for mineral oil, from 0.01 to 4.31 mg/kg for BTEX and from 0.01 to 8.43 mg/kg for PAHs.