Source Identification and Characterization of Organic Contaminants in Sediment and Periwinkle (Littorina Littorea) From Okujagu River
- December 23, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS Team
- Categories: Chemistry, IJRIAS
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Applied Science (IJRIAS) | Volume V, Issue XI, November 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186
Tamunobelema, C. I*, Kpee, F. and Nna, P.J.
Department of Chemistry, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Corresponding author*
ABSTRACT:- The research identifies the sources and characterizes the concentrations of n-alkanes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediment and Littorina Littorea from Okujagu River. Samples were evaluated utilizing n-alkanes, 14 PAHs and Gas chromatography Mass spectrometer (GC-MS) ranging from C17 to C32 were identified and quantified. Total PAH and n-alkane dosage for both samples ranged from 2.38 to 2.48mg/kg and 0.36 to 3.127mg/kg respectively. The sources were examinedutilizing PAH diagnostic ratios and n-alkane indexes. n-alkanes were characterized by carbon preference index (CPI), n-alkane proxy (Paq), Carbon maximum (Cmax), and the ratio of long chain hydrocarbons to short chain hydrocarbons (LHC/SHC). PAH diagnostic ratios such as Phenanthrene to Anthracene (Ph/An), Fluoranthene to Pyrene (Fl/Py), Ant/(Ant+Ph), Fl/(Fl+Py) and the ratio of lower molecular weight (LMW) PAHs to higher molecular weight (HMW) PAHs (LMW/HMW) were calculated to evaluate both petrogenic and pyrogenic (pyrolytic) PAHs. From the results, the diagnostic ratio of (Fl/Py) for sediment was 40 (>1) indicating PAHs origin from pyrolytic source while Fl/Py ratio of the Littorina Littorea sample was 0.25(<1) indicating petrogenic source. The (Ph/An) ratio for sediment and Littorina Littorea were 3.5(<10) and 0.008(<1) respectively implying that the PAHs are source from combustion processes (pyrolytic). Also, the ratio of Ant/(Ant+Ph) was 0.22 (>0.1) for sediment and 0.99 (>0.1) for Litorina Littorea indicating PAHs origin from pyrogenic(pyrolytic) sources. While the ratio of Fl/(Fl+Py) was 0.98 (>0.4) for sediment suggesting PAH origin from pyrogenic(pyrolytic) source and 0.2 (<0.4) for Litorina Littorea indicating PAHs origin from petrogenic sources. The ratio of (LMW/HMW) PAHs was calculated to be 2.42 (>1) for sediment and 24.608 (>1) for Litorina Littorea indicating PAHs origin from petrogenic sources. According to the diagnostic ratios used in this study, the PAHs in the sediment and Littorina Littorea samples originate from both pyrolytic and petrogenic sources. The study recommends that the disposal of waste, effluent discharges from industries and chemical release through agricultural activities into the marine ecosystem should be regulated as to control the contaminants in the system.
Keywords: Concentration, Terrestrial, Biogenic, Macrophyte, Phytoplankton, Petrogenic, Pyrolytic, Organic Matter.
INTRODUCTION
Organic contaminants are various sources of plant and animal origin which alters the state of the ecosystem. They are carbon based chemicals which affects the life cycle of aquatic life and could be sourced from mechanical actions that coincidentally drain synthetic spillover into surface waters (Moustafaet al., 2016).
