Source Identification of Stranded Oils based on Stable Isotope Profiles of n-Alkanes after the Hebei Spirit Oil Spill Incident

Title
Source Identification of Stranded Oils based on Stable Isotope Profiles of n-Alkanes after the Hebei Spirit Oil Spill Incident
Author(s)
김은식; 김문구; 하성용; 안준건; 임운혁; 심원준
KIOST Author(s)
Kim, Moon Koo(김문구)Ha, Sung Yong(하성용)An, Joon Geon(안준건)Yim, Un Hyuk(임운혁)Shim, Won Joon(심원준)
Alternative Author(s)
김은식; 김문구; 하성용; 안준건; 임운혁; 심원준
Publication Year
2009-10-29
Abstract
Oils from different sources have different chemical compositions and biomarker distributions, which can be used to identify the source of oil pollution. The chemical compositions of spilled oils, however, can be altered in the environment by a number of physicochemical and biological factors including evaporation, dissolution, photooxidation and microbial degradation, making source identification difficult. The stable isotope compositions of individual compounds in spilled oil remain relatively unaffected and therefore can be effectively used as a correlation parameter. After the Hebei Spirit oil spill incident, stranded oils collected in the West coast of Korea were analyzed by GC/IRMS (gas chromatograph / isotope ratio mass spectrometry) for stable isotope ratios of n-alkanes and compared with possible source oils, i.e., Iranian Heavy, KEC, and U/ZKUM. The stable isotope profiles of stranded oils showed similarity to those of Iranian Heavy crude oil and dissimilarity to those of KEC and U/ZKUM, clearly illustrating that Iranian Heavy crude oil was the major spilled oil among the three crude oils originally loaded in the tanker, Hebei Spirit. This study shows that stable isotope profile of n-alkanes can be effectively used to trace the source of oil spill.
URI
https://sciwatch.kiost.ac.kr/handle/2020.kiost/29245
Bibliographic Citation
2nd International Conference of Environmental Health Science, pp.229, 2009
Publisher
The Korean Society of Environmental Risk Assessment and Health Science
Type
Conference
Language
English
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