Published: 2003
Total Pages: 101
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A demonstration of the Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon Criteria Working Group (TPHCWG) approach for assessing human health risk at weathered petroleum release sites was performed at a petroleum, oil and lubricant underground storage tank site (JP-4 and JP-4-8) located at the Springfield Air National Guard Base, Springfield, Ohio. A total of nine subsurface soil samples were obtained for this demonstration project at subsurface depths ranging from 4 to 6 feet. Soil analyses included both volatile and extractable petroleum hydrocarbons using the TPHCWG direct method and the Massachusetts Department 0 Environmental Protection (MA DEP) methodology to compare the approaches. Soil core composites were analyzed for trichloroethylene, gasoline-range organics, volatile petroleum hydrocarbons, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX), diesel-range organics, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and extractable petroleum hydrocarbons using both the TPHCWG and MA DEP protocols. No benzene or trichloroethylene was detected and only trace concentrations of toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes were. detected. Results, in combination with the finding of very low concentrations of BTEX, indicated that the hydrocarbons detected in site soils were composed of a weathered petroleum mixture. Overall, the TPHCWG approach provides better insight into the nature of petroleum hydrocarbon contamination (i.e., it provides more robust fractional analysis data) and is less likely to overestimate the risk posed to human receptors under the same exposure scenario.