Application of biological markers for the identification of oil-type pollutants in recent sediments: Alluvial formation of the Danube river, Oil refinery Pancevo

The purpose of this paper was to examine to which extent the abundance and distribution of certain biological markers may be used for the identification of oil-type pollutants in recent sediments and ground waters. The samples were taken from the area of the Oil Refinery Pancevo (alluvial formation of the Danube River). The organic matter of the investigated samples was isolated using an extraction method with chloroform. The group composition and usual biological markers were analyzed in the obtained extracts. n-Alkanes and acyclic isoprenoids, pristane and phytane were analyzed using gas chromatographie (GC) analysis of saturated hydrocarbons. Polycyclic alkanes of the sterane and terpane type were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), i.e. by analyzing the carbamide non-adduct of the total alkane fraction (Single Ion Monitoring SIM-technique). The obtained results indicate that n-alkanes can be used for the identification of oil-type pollutants (for example, if the oil-pollutant is biodegraded or present in very low concentrations), and steranes and triterpanes can be used as very reliable indicators of oil-type pollution in recent sediments and ground waters.

Download Full-text

Transformation of a petroleum pollutant during soil bioremediation experiments

Journal of the Serbian Chemical Society ◽

10.2298/jsc0805577j ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 73 (5) ◽

pp. 577-583 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

B. Jovancicevic ◽

M. Antic ◽

M. Vrvic ◽

M. Ilic ◽

M. Novakovic ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Microbial Consortium ◽

Polluted Soil ◽

Oil Refinery ◽

Danube River ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Insoluble Residue ◽

Soil Bioremediation ◽

Alluvial Formation ◽

Oil Type ◽

Petroleum Pollutant

The experiment of ex situ soil bioremediation was performed at the locality of the Oil Refinery in Pancevo (alluvial formation of the Danube River, Serbia) polluted with an oil type pollutant. The experiments of biostimulation, bioventilation and reinoculation of an autochthonous microbial consortium were performed during the six-month period (May-November 2006). The changes in the quantity and composition of the pollutant, or the bioremediation effect, were monitored by analysis of the samples of the polluted soil taken in time spans of two weeks. In this way, from the beginning until the end of the experiment, 12 samples were collected and marked as P1-P12 (Pancevo 1-Pancevo 12). The results obtained showed that more significant changes in the composition of the oil pollutant occurred only during the last phases of the experiment (P8-P12). The activity of microorganisms was reflected in the increase of the quantity of polar oil fractions, mainly fatty acid fractions. In this way, the quantity of total eluate increased, and the quantity of the insoluble residue was reduced to a minimum, whereby the oil pollutant was transformed to a form that could be removed more efficiently and more completely from the soil, as a segment of the environment.

Download Full-text

Trace elements as tracers of environmental pollution in the canal sediments (alluvial formation of the Danube River, Serbia)

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment ◽

10.1007/s10661-009-1044-0 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 167 (1-4) ◽

pp. 219-233 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Sanja M. Sakan ◽

Dragana S. Đorđević ◽

Dragan D. Manojlović

Keyword(s):

Trace Elements ◽

Environmental Pollution ◽

Danube River ◽

The Danube River ◽

Alluvial Formation

Download Full-text

Oil pollutants in alluvial sediments: Influence of the intensity of contact with ground waters on the effect of microorganisms

Journal of the Serbian Chemical Society ◽

10.2298/jsc0303227s ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 68 (3) ◽

pp. 227-234 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Tatjana Solevic ◽

Branimir Jovancicevic ◽

Miroslav Vrvic ◽

Hermann Wehner

Keyword(s):

Carbon Number ◽

Oil Refinery ◽

Aqueous Environment ◽

Aqueous Emulsion ◽

Alluvial Sediments ◽

Ground Waters ◽

Aqueous Layer ◽

Intense Activity ◽

Algal Type ◽

Alluvial Formation

The influence of the intensity of interaction between oil pollutants and ground waters in alluvial sediments on the effect of microbial activity was investigated in this work. The study was based on a comparison of detailed analyses of two fractions of an oil pollutant originating from a Danube alluvial formation near the Pancevo Oil Refinery: fraction 1, separated from the aqueous layer by decantation, presumed to have been in less intensive interaction with water, and fraction 2, isolated from the aqueous emulsion by extraction with chloroform, presumed to have been in stronger interaction with water. Both fractions were shown to originate from the same type of oil pollutant. Nevertheless, significant compositional differences between the two fractions were observed. Asignificantly pronounced domination of even carbon number homologues of C18?C24 n-alkanes in fraction 2, atypical for crude oil pollutants, compared to the corresponding distribution observed in fraction 1, suggested a more intense activity, i.e., a much better effect of microorganisms in direct contact with the oil pollutant within the aqueous environment. The identification of even carbon number C14?C18 n-alcohols and C14?C18 fatty acids, as well as cholesterol, in fraction 2, suggested that microorganisms of the algal type in non-photosynthetic conditions were most probably responsible for the mentioned microbial processes.

Download Full-text

Organic geochemical approach in the identification of oil-type pollutants in water and sediment of the River Ibar

Journal of the Serbian Chemical Society ◽

10.2298/jsc161129022m ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 82 (5) ◽

pp. 593-605 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Zoran Milicevic ◽

Dragan Marinovic ◽

Gordana Gajica ◽

Milica Kasanin-Grubin ◽

Verka Jovanovic ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mass Spectrometry ◽

Group Composition ◽

Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽

Water And Sediment ◽

Geological Age ◽

Recent Sediments ◽

Almost All ◽

Geochemical Approach ◽

Source Of Pollution ◽

Oil Type

In this paper an applied organic geochemical approach in studying the nature of organic matter (OM) in water and sediments of the River Ibar (upsteream and downstream of towns Kosovska Mitrovica and Kraljevo) was used. A forensic approach that relies on the fact that the composition of OM of recent sediments and oil varies due to geological age and maturity was applied. The content of bitumen, its group composition of saturated, aromatic and NSO compounds (nitrogen, sulphur, and oxygen compounds) and the distribution of n-alkanes in saturated fractions identified by gas chromatography?mass spectrometry (in almost all samples incorporated into the colloidal micelles formed by water and NSO compounds) could not answer the question whether OM in isolated extracts has native or anthropogenic origin. However, the presence of sterane and terpane, with the distribution of structural and stereochemical isomers characteristic of oil, as a form of most matture OM in sediments, unambiguously confirmed presence of oil type pollutants in anlayzed samples. Based on significant differences in the distributions of these polycyclic alkane (water?water, sediment?sediment and water?sediment), it was concluded that they have more than one source of pollution, and that the River Ibar is permanently exposed to this form of pollution.

Download Full-text