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Fingerprinting of oil-spills in a petroleum refinery using Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA)

Pasadakis Nikos, Gidarakos Evaggelos, Kanellopoulou G.

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Summary

Crude oil and refining products are the mostfrequent contaminants, found in theenvironment. The rapid determination of theirspills and the reliable identification(fingerprinting) of their sources are importanttopics in environmental studies.Fingerprinting involves appropriate samplingand analytical procedures in conjunction withdata analysis and interpretation techniques. Awide variety of analytical methods have beenemployed. Gas chromatography is the mostwidely used method, while multivariatestatistical methods, like Principal ComponentsAnalysis (PCA), discriminant function analysisand cluster analysis are commonly employed fordata treatment and interpretation.In this work two analytical methods – gaschromatography and gel permeationchromatography (GPC) – were used tofingerprint 18 free phase samples obtained fromdifferent locations in the subsurface of a Greekoil refinery. PCA was applied on the obtainedanalytical data, with the aim to identify groupsof samples with similar compositionalcharacteristics. Both techniques led to similarconclusions, concerning the distribution ofpetroleum fractions in the refinery subsurface.GPC found to be a convenient analyticaltechnique in fingerprinting applications of oils,especially for heavy petroleum fractions and canbe employed as a reliable alternative to the GCanalysis.

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