Oil contamination remains one of the most complex and pressing environmental challenges. Unlike conventional pollutants, petroleum hydrocarbons cannot be fully assessed using classical ecological tools or analytical methods designed for refined products. Once released into the environment, crude oil undergoes weathering and interacts with mineral substrates, organic matter, and diverse microbial communities. Each spill develops its own chemical and biological “fingerprint”, making every contamination case unique.
This specificity presents a challenge for both regulators and practitioners – scientists and remediation technologists. The thing is that globally, regulatory systems aimed at tackling oil-pollution-related problems are converging toward tiered threshold approaches, where international or state experts set concentration limits depending on the intended land use. But such an approach has limitations, as it works only for a fixed remediation end-point. Traditional ecological assessment focuses on ecosystem relationships and toxic effects, yet oil pollution is dynamic and evolves over time. Toxicity is only one aspect of a broader impact that includes soil degradation, altered microbial diversity, and long-term risks to water security and land use. This philosophy is also often based on outdated analytical methods originally developed to check whether refined oil products were clean enough—methods that are inapplicable to complex environmental studies.
Accurate assessment of contamination level is crucial for any remediation project efficiency evaluation. In our opinion, correct choice of analytical standards is the key to the successful implementation of the remediation technologies, furthermore – to the sustainable future of our industry. Weathering often transforms crude oil into complex mixtures that cannot be precisely analyzed either by conventional methods such as API retort or HEM gravimetry or even special chromatographic techniques like Gas Chromatography with Flame Ionization Detection (GC-FID). Many analytical laboratories encounter difficulty in comparing initial and weathered oil fractions during the analysis of petroleum hydrocarbons in untreated and treated/remediated samples. The limitations of conventional quantitative methods in this scenario necessitate the use of qualitative analytics for accurate assessment. At the same time, petroleum hydrocarbons must be distinguished from persistent organic pollutants (POPs), which pose global and cumulative risks. While traditional methods of hydrocarbon pollution analysis overlook POPs, modern analytical platforms like Gas Chromatography with Mass Spectrometry technique (GC-MS) are particularly valuable, as they enable simultaneous monitoring of petroleum fractions and POPs, helping practitioners make informed and adaptive decisions.
Actually, GC-MS is becoming more and more the global benchmark for hydrocarbon analysis in terms of “fingerprinting” contamination. Thus, based on the best worlds practice in the field and also on many years of our own experience Arva Greentech Remediation AG has developed an internal standard for hydrocarbon fraction analysis based on GC-MS, addressing the key challenges of oil-pollution analytics. It is fully harmonized with EPA 8015 and 8270 methodologies. Another topic is that weathering and remediation alter the original chromatographic profile, transforming much of the mixture into Unresolved Complex Mixtures (UCMs), sometimes accounting for 80–90% of the sample. To address this, Arva’s scientific team (trusted world’s experts as well as the Gulf specialists also – see literature sources) proposed to calculate Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) as the sum of resolved hydrocarbons (TRH) plus integrated UCM. Accuracy is enhanced using baseline approximation algorithms and external standards. We now apply this methodology across all our existing projects in multiple regions, including the GCC states, where it is gaining recognition as a progressive and reliable framework for evaluating site sustainability.
At Arva Greentech Remediation AG, we see our role not only in advancing analytical standards but beyond – in shaping a remediation philosophy consistent with sustainable development and long-term soil health across the region. We believe that remediation goals should go far beyond the decontamination process. They must be set within a broader framework for the sustainable future use of treated lands: enhancing soil ecosystem development, increasing carbon-capture capacity, and improving organic content, with the long-term goal of making soils suitable for forestation and agriculture. This aligns with regional priorities such as food security and self-sufficiency in the face of global challenges.
Authors:
Dr. Sergey Seryy – Head of Research and Development
Mr. Volodymyr Harkavenko – Sustainability Division Manager
Literature sources:
- ISO 2011 Soil quality – Determination of content of hydrocarbons in the range C10 – C40 by gas chromatography ISO 16703:2011 International Organization for Standardization (Geneva, Switzerland 2011)
- United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) 1996Method 5021 Volatile organic compounds in soils and other solid matrices using equilibrium headspace analysis (Washington DC)
- ISO 2004 Soil quality – Determination of content of in the range C10 – C40 by gas chromatography ISO 16703:2004 International Organization for Standardization (Geneva Switzerland 2004)
- Norwegian Pollution Control Authority2009 Helsebaserte tilstandsklasser for forurenset grunn TA-2553 p 30NS-EN 14039:2004 Characterization of waste – Determination of Hydrocarbon content in the range of C10 to C40 by gas chromatography
- ISO 1994 Soil quality – Determination of mineral oil content – Method by infrared spectrometry and gas chromatographic method ISO/TR 11046:1994 International Organization for Standardization (Geneva, Switzerland 1994)
- Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment 2001 Reference Method for the Canada Wide Standard for Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soil – Tier 1 Method Publication No. 1310ISBN 1-896997-01-5
- “Determination of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) in weathered oil contaminated soil”, Meshari Saad Almutairi; Environmental Engineering Research 2022; 27(5): 210324 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4491/eer.2021.324
- Characterization of unresolved complex mixtures of hydrocarbons in petroleum, M. A. Gough & S. J. Rowland, Nature volume 344, pages648–650 (1990)
- US Environmental Protection Agency Method 1664, Revision A: N-Hexane Extractable Material (HEM; Oil and Grease) and Silica Gel Treated N-Hexane Extractable Material (SGT-HEM; Non-polar Material) by Extraction and Gravimetry, February 1999.
- ASTM D7678-11, Standard Test Method for Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) in Water and Wastewater with Solvent Extraction using Mid-IR Laser Spectroscopy, ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2011
- US Environmental Protection Agency Method 8015D, Nonhalogenated Organics Using GC/FID, SW-846, June 2003.
- United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). Method 8270C. Semivolatile organic compounds by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Washington: US EPA, 1996, Revision 2014
