Environmental Forensic Investigation for Identifying Sources of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in a Stream Check Access

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) belong to a class of organic pollutants formed through the incomplete combustion or pyrolysis of hydrocarbon fuels. The major contributing sources of PAHs are from anthropogenic processes, including petroleum and diesel combustion and industrial processes. PAHs are of environmental and health concern because of their persistent, lipophilic, and carcinogenic properties. Source apportionment techniques are utilized to determine contributors to PAHs in the environment. The receptor model requires the identification and quantification of the pollutants at known emission sources to obtain a chemical profile. These profiles are then compared with unknown samples to identify possible sources contributing to the unknown samples. In this chapter a receptor model is used for source identification of PAHs in a trout-fishing stream (The Spring Creek, State College, PA) that has been studied following an industrial accident. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), a multivariate technique that simplifies complex data to illustrate patterns of similarity or dissimilarity, is used as the receptor model. The objective of this study is to test the applicability of this source identification methodology for sediment samples expected to have PAHs from multiple sources.