Characterization of Organic Contaminants in New York/New Jersey Harbor Sediments Using FTIR-ATR and Synchrotron FTIR

Zhiguang Song, Keith W. Jones, Nebojsa Marinkovic, Xian Ming Xiao, Huan Feng, Elli Tchouparova

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dredging and remediation of contaminated Harbor sediments requires characterization of organic pollutants. In this paper, we apply a combination of Fourier transform IR attenuated total reflectance (FTIR-ATR) and synchrotron FTIR techniques to the investigation of sediments and related materials from New York/New Jersey Harbor and other locations. The FTIR techniques give information on the functional groups of the compounds found in the sediments and make possible measurements with a spatial resolution of about 0.015mm. Comparisons of natural organic materials namely, river and groundwater humic substances, recent marine and lacustrine sediments, and ancient sedimentary kerogen show that contaminated NY/NJ Harbor sediments display a strong and distinct absorption in their IR spectra at 2850-2950cm -1 identified as a C-H stretching band, indicative of the presence of anthropogenic hydrocarbons. We suggest that the presence of this band could be used for rapid screening for the presence of contaminant organic compounds in sediments encountered in dredging operations and/or as an indicator for the efficacy of sediment decontamination technologies used for treatment of dredged material.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1041-1049
Number of pages9
JournalClean - Soil, Air, Water
Volume39
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2011

Keywords

  • FTIR-ATR
  • Marine sediment
  • Organic contaminants
  • Synchrotron FTIR

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