TPH METHOD Michaelle Exhume Environmental Testing Laboratories, Inc. Mentor: Patty Els Freeport High School

VOCABULARY EPA - Environmental Protection Agencies Solvent – a substance that is capable of dissolving another substance Freon – nonflammable gaseous liquid Hexane – a colorless flammable liquid used as a solvent and as a working fluid in low temperature thermometers. Silica Gel- a porous form of silica that is highly absorbent MS- Matrix Spike MSD- Matrix Spike Duplicate

…CONTINUED Spectrophotometer – an instrument used for measuring the intensity of light of a definite wavelength transmitted by a substance or a solution, thus providing a measure of the amount of material in the solution absorbing the light. VOA

Introduction What is TPH 418.1? It is defined as the measurable amount of petroleum-based hydrocarbons in an environmental media. Since it is a measured, gross quantity without identification of its elements, the TPH value still represents a mixture. Therefore, TPH itself is not a direct risk to humans and the environment Most of the samples used are collected soils and groundwater from construction sites This method is used to find the percentage of petroleum hydrocarbons This test is important because it is required by the EPA periodically every year.

OBJECTIVE To find the percentage of petroleum hydrocarbons in the given samples.

Materials VOA Sonicator Soil Samples Silica Gel Digital Weighing Scale Spatula Freon Spectrophotometer Pipette Cuvette Glass Wool Florossil

Procedure TPH Weigh approximately 10 grams of soil sample into a VOA *Blank 10 grams of sand *MS “ *MSD“ 2.Add 3 grams of silica gel to each VOA. 3.Add 20 ml of Freon 4.Spike the MS, and MSD with.2 ml of 10,000 ppm TPH spike solution

…CONTINUED 5.Sonicate for 20 minutes 6.Let it cool and settle for about 15 minutes 7.Filter the sample through a glass pipette with Florossil and glass wool 8.Place the filtered sample in spectrophotometer 9.Calculate the results using the following formula: conc Ug/mL *vol ml/wt (gm) = final conc PPM

RESULTS COCVOLWEIGHTABSTSUg/mL DUP

…continued COCVOLWEIGHTABSTSUg/mL BLANK BLANK MS BLANK MSD

CONCLUSION This project illustrates that the TPH method can be used to find out the percentage of hydrocarbons in a highly contaminated soil sample.

FUTURE WORK Since Freon and hexane are extraction solvents that evaporate quickly, new methods will be examined to try to find an easier and cheaper way to decontaminate a large portion of highly contaminated soil.

REFERENCES The Great Big Book of Chemistry SOP methods TPH method book

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dr. Sat Bhattacharya Harlem Children Society Mr. Edward Irwin Patty Els Robin Knappe Suni Varghese Lisa Maurino Thank you