Simultaneous fluorimetric determination of the biodegradation processes of dissolved multi-component PAHs

A fluorimetric method for simultaneous determination of dissolved acenaphthylene (Ace) phenanthrene (Ph) and pyrene (Py), mixed in an aqueous mineral salts medium (MSM), was developed. The linear ranges for determination of Ace, Ph and Py dissolved in the mixture were 4.00 x 10(-6) to 3.00 x 10(-3)g/L, 2.00 x 10(-6) to 1.00 x 10(-3)g/L and 7.00 x 10(-7) to 1.00 x 10(-4)g/L. The limits of detection for Ace, Ph and Py were 8.53 x 10(-7), 4.98 x 10(-7) and 6.01 x 10(-8)g/L and the relative standard deviations 1.05%, 1.62% and 1.16% (n=8), respectively. Satisfactory results were obtained when this method was used to simultaneously study the biodegradation processes of mixtures of dissolved Ace, Ph and Py in an MSM aqueous solution.