The application of rapid handheld FTIR petroleum hydrocarbon-contaminant measurement with transport models for site assessment: a case study

Conventional contaminated site assessment requires sophisticated sampling and laboratory analyses, which are costly and time consuming. There is a trend for soil analyses to shift from complex laboratory procedures to rapid, simple and non-destructive spectroscopic methods that can be used in the field. Handheld Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy has the advantage of providing information for rapid in situ site characterisation. To apply the infrared (IR) spectral application for petroleum hydrocarbon (PH) contamination site investigation, the coherent bands at locations from 3000 to 2800 cm⁻¹ represent carbon (C) - hydrogen (H) bonding for long-chain alkanes due to -C-H stretching vibrations. The areas of the coherent bands at these locations can be used to quantify the total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentrations in soils. With additional spectral data from IR spectroscopy there is potential for predicting soil texture and water content, which are the basic inputs for modelling the migration of PH at contaminated sites. This study demonstrates the innovative coupling of spectral analytical models and a handheld FTIR instrument, with a soil erosion model, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), and the Hydrus hydrological model. The integration of these models were used to investigate the potential downstream water and groundwater contamination risks from the migration of PH at a PH-contaminated site.