Using n-Alkanes for Identification of Oils in Domestic Wastewaters

Abstract

The aim of this work was to investigate whether linear aliphatic hydrocarbons had a usable potential for the determination of waste oil in wastewater. For that, n-alkanes analyses of wastewater samples from five sampling points (P₁-P₅) of the sewage system of Konya–Turkey were carried out by gas chromatographic technique and the parameters of carbon predominance index (ICP), n-C₁₇/n-C₁₈ and unresolved complex mixture (UCM)/n-alkanes ratios were determined. It was found that sampling points P₁, P₂ and P₃, which had ICP values 1.52±0.04, 1.43±0.05 and 1.12±0.05, respectively, were polluted with petroleum hydrocarbons and the aliphatic hydrocarbons detected in the sampling points of P₄ and P₅, which had ICP values of 0.96±0.05 and 0.95±0.03, respectively, were from natural origin. These results were also supported by the parameters of n-C₁₇/n-C₁₈ and UCM/n-alkanes ratios and by the correlation between the parameters of ICP, n-C₁₇/n-C₁₈, UCM/n-alkanes and COD, Pb, Cr for all sampling points

Keywords:

• ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
• CARBON PREDOMINANCE INDEX
• WASTEWATER
• SEWAGE SYSTEM