Total petroleum content and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon levels in soil and groundwater at the site of a fuel service station in Accra.

Abstract

Analysis of Total Petroleum Content (TPC) and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) in soil and ground-water at the site of a Fuel Service Station indicated leakage of petroleum products from the underground storage tanks buried 3.6 km below the surface. The leakage resulted in contamination of areas within a 60 m radius. In the TPC profiles, distinct peak corresponding to diesel oil occurred between 5 and 17 min; while a hump charac-teristic of mineral oil occurred between 17 and 25 min. In the PAH profiles, 18 compounds were identified and quantified by means of gas chromatography. The TPC levels ranged between 0.918 - 21.9 μg/L for groundwater and 44.1 - 894 mg/kg for soil. The levels of PAHs were low and HM-PAHs were not detected. The total PAH levels varied between 20.93 - 51.85 μg/L for groundwater and 2.07 - 6.5 ng/kg ww for soil. The levels of LM-PAHs were above the International standard of 200 ng/L, while BaP levels were 710 ng/L (indicative of carcino-genic effects). Naphthalene was found to be abundant in the groundwater.

Journal of Applied Science and Technology Vol. 13 (1 & 2) 2008: pp. 64-71