Dermal absorption of high molecular weight parent and alkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from manufactured gas plant soils using in vitro assessment.

An enhanced in vitro human dermal bioavailability method was developed to measure the release of twenty parent and seven alkylated high molecular weight (HMW) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from contaminated soils collected from five former manufactured Gas Plants (MGP) in England. GC-MS/MS was used to quantify HMW PAHs in soil, Strat-M artificial membrane representing skin, and synthetic receptor solution (RS) representing systemic circulation at 1-h, 10-h, and 24-h timesteps. Fluoranthene and pyrene exhibited the highest fluxes from soils to membrane (ranging from 9.5 - 281 ng/cm2/h) and soil to RS (

Characterisation of former manufactured gas plant soils using parent and alkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and Rock-Eval(6) pyrolysis.

Soils sampled from 10 former manufactured gas plants (MGP) in the UK were investigated using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) and Rock-Eval (6) Pyrolysis (RE). RE is a screening tool used to characterise bulk organic matter in soils via the release of carbon compounds during pyrolysis and oxidation. Both the distributions and concentrations of 30 parent and 21 alkylated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the parameters of RE were analysed to establish relationships between soils and the MGP processes history. Principal component analysis (PCA) using the PAHs distributions and RE parameters can assist with differentiating between MGP processes. MGP processes utilizing oil provided the clearest results, attributed to petrogenic signatures with high proportions of low molecular weight PAHs. Processes using lower temperature processes were distinguished by higher proportions of high molecular weight PAHs. RE parameters alone were unable to distinguish MGP processes but showed potential in estimating the lability and thus the amount of PAH that could be released from soils. This research provides new insights that may be useful in understanding and characterising the risks posed to human health from PAHs in soils.