Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are environmental contaminants produced mainly from the incomplete combustion and pyrolysis of organic matter. PAHs are among the major contaminants at Superfund sites and are present at over 800 sites nationwide. Thermal remediation employs the use of heat to mobilize and recover pollutants, and is used as a method to remediate soils contaminated with PAHs. Steam enhanced extraction (SEE) is an <i>in-situ</i> thermal remediation technique which relies on the addition of steam (heat) to soil in order to increase the removal efficiency and recovery of volatile and semi-volatile contaminants. However, limited information is available regarding formation of PAH breakdown products during and after thermal remediation. This is due to the inability to predict transformation products, the historical lack of standards, and challenges in the analysis of PAHs and their breakdown products in complex environmental mixtures. Breakdown products seem to be more mobile than PAHs in the environment, and some are more toxic to humans, animals, and plants, compared to the corresponding PAHs. There is an urgent need to develop analytical methods that can accurately quantify these PAH breakdown products, specifically hydroxy PAHs (OHPAHs). In this study, we optimized a gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method for the analysis of OHPAHs, and identified and quantified non-substituted PAHs, OHPAHs, oxygenated PAHs and nitrated PAHs in creosote contaminated soil before and after SEE from the Wyckoff/Eagle Harbor Superfund site. We also determined the developmental toxicity of soil extracts before and after SEE utilizing the embryonic zebrafish (<i>Danio rerio</i>) bioassay.

Identification and quantification of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon breakdown products in thermally remediated soil from the Wyckoff/Eagle Harbor Superfund site

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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