Disaster Response on Soil Contamination by Spilled Oil in Flood Situation using Automated Identification and Quantification Systems (AIQS)

Abstract

Oil spill accident from steel mill was caused by flood in August 2019 in Saga Prefecture, Japan. As the disaster response, spilled oil which was floating on the flood water was recovered by oil absorption sheets. It was hypothesized that soil contamination by spilled oil might be avoided if the oil could be recovered before it contacted to soil. The paddy soil samples collected in oil contaminated area (clean up with oil absorption sheets, n=3), control areas (n=2), and used quench oil (spilled oil from steel mill) were employed for chemicals analysis. The analytical technique of Automated Identification and Quantification Systems with gas chromatography mass spectrometry (AIQS-GC) was applied for Comprehensive Target Analysis (CTA). As the result of chemical analysis, sterols, alkanes, PAHs (including nativeand methylated-PAHs), and other compounds were detected in paddy soil samples. Only alkanes and PAHs were detected from used quench oil. No clear differences were found on alkanes and PAHs concentrations between paddy soils collected in oil contaminated area and control area. On the other hand, contribution of chemicals detected in paddy soils and used quench oil were clearly different. These results indicate that soil contamination by spilled oil could be avoided by the recovering of spilled oil using oil absorption sheets during it was floating on the flood water.