Chemical characterization and screening of hydrocarbon pollution in industrial soils by headspace solid-phase microextraction

A headspace solid-phase microextraction method, followed by a gas chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis, has been developed for the screening of soil samples polluted by coal tar or refined petroleum products. Vapor pressures of target analytes were determined using a capillary GC method to identify environmentally important components with a sufficiently high vapor pressure to be analyzed in the headspace mode. The method was optimized under non-equilibrium conditions with simplicity and automation in mind and does not require any extraction procedure or sample preparation, other than grinding, drying and homogenizing. The analytical performance and the significance of the results for the purpose of chemical characterization, source discrimination, determination of individual isomer distributions and to calculate source or weathering ratios, is discussed.