Assessment of soil contamination by oil-derived compounds in the Kielce agglomeration using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS)

Soil contamination with petroleum-derived compounds is one of the most serious ecological problems. Their main source in urbanized areas is public transport. According to the Regulation of the Polish Minister of Environment about the assessment of earth’s surface contamination, hydrocarbon compounds are divided into: gasolines and oils, aromatic hydrocarbons and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The subject of the research is the use of a gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method to assess the degree of soil contamination in the vicinity of the main communication routes of the Kielce agglomeration. This method is useful for the detection and identification of many organic compounds occurring in samples in very small quantities, which cannot be determined by common methods. For the purpose of this study, 14 soil samples were collected. After carrying out extraction with various methods, the ultrasonic solvent extraction method was chosen as the most effective way of extracting hydrocarbon impurities for the GC-MS studies. During single analysis, both oil fraction and PAHs quantities were determined.