A summary of methods for field analysis of hydrocarbon contaminated soil and groundwater

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is currently developing a series of technical documents to address key issues that technical, project management, and regulatory personnel may need to understand in order to select and use these field analytical methods to their full potential. The overall objective of this project is to provide key information for developing technical guidance documents to be used in establishing an independent set of field analytical methods that do not require constant validation by off-site laboratories and can be used for onsite decision making. This paper will first briefly identify the three documents being developed: (1) a compilation of recognized field analytical methods, (2) a framework for their selection and use, and (3) a general protocol for producing and evaluating field method performance data. This paper will then provide an overview of the compilation document, which focuses on the most widely used field analytical methods including total organic vapor analyzers, field gas chromatographs, immunoassay, infrared detectors, and dissolved oxygen/reduction-oxidation potential electrodes. Practical applications and limitations of each method are discussed.