Abstract:

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), which have detrimental health effects such as cancer and mutation, abound in rivers. To employ effective mitigation strategies, accurate determination of PAHs in water bodies is essential. In this study, PAHs in the Batman River were investigated. Specifically, the study has two aims: (1) determining whether there are any statistical differences between the Liquid-liquid (LL) and Solid-phase (SP) extraction techniques of PAHs; and (2) investigation of PAH contamination and the potential sources of PAHs in the Batman River. Methodologically, four different samples were collected and one part of each sample was extracted with the LL and the other part with the SP. Later, each extract was analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Subsequently, the analysis results of the LL and SP extracts were statistically compared. PAH concentrations were 85.5 and 76.7 ng/L for the means of the LL and SP extracts, respectively. Based on the t-test, the differences between these two means were not significant (p-value=0.684 > 0.05). Similarly, no statistical differences were observed between the analysis results of the LL and SP extracts for any individual PAHs. As for the source analysis, the results indicated that road vehicles and coal combustion were the possible sources of PAH contamination in the river. This study provides the first data set for PAH contamination in the Batman River.

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