SOURCES OF POLAR ORGANIC MATTER IN PETROLEUM-CONTAMINATED GROUNDWATER:NEW INSIGHTS INTO BIOGEOCHEMICAL PROCESSES AND FATE AND TRANSPORT IMPLICATIONS

摘要

Substantial amounts of polar organic material have been identified in the total petroleum hydrocarbon(TPH)extracts from some petroleum-contaminated groundwaters.(Please note this definition of TPH is U.S.EPA Method 418.1).These findings are consistent with studies that have demonstrated that the aliphatic and aromatic organic fractions account for less than 100% of groundwater TPH(R.Haddad,unpublished data).Analyses have shown that the chromatographic nature of the polar material presents itself as a classical'hump'or unresolved complex mixture(UCM),similar to that associated with the aliphatic and aromatic organic material comprising fresh dieselrange petroleum products.Because classical chromatography does not provide an unique fingerprint of the groundwater polar organic material,it is not surprising that the polar nature of the extract has not been better studied.