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A gravimetric method to determine heavy fractions of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in soils is reported. The method was adapted and calibrated by modifying previous standard methods published, incorporating energy and cost savings where possible. Artificially contaminated soils with different organic matter content, and aged in stationary mode for a period of 8 months were used for calibration. Insufficient solvent evaporation was identified as the most prevalent and largest positive interference in the gravimetric detection. To overcome this, while minimizing the need for heating, a combination of three 10-min rotary evaporator steps and 30 min of vacuum in a desiccator were applied, for a total solvent volume of 60 ml. Hexane was chosen as the extraction solvent and a 40-60 min treatment in an ultrasound bath of 260 W was found suitable to extract 80-95% of TPH extracted by the Soxhlet method. Finally, the use of silica gel for cleanup of co-extracted natural organic matter was found unnecessary, because of the low amounts co-extracted for soils with up to 5% organic carbon, and because the chemical nature of the co-extracted organic matter prevents its selective adsorption to silica.

In large industrialized cities, tons of particles containing heavy metals are released into the environment and accumulate on street surfaces. Such particles cause a potential risk to human health due to their composition and size. The heavy metal contamination levels, main emission sources, and human health risks were identified in 482 samples of street dust. Heavy metal concentrations were obtained by microwave-assisted acid digestion and ICP-OES. The results indicated that street dust in Mexico City is contaminated mainly with Pb, Zn, and Cu, according to the contamination factor and the geoaccumulation index. The pollution load index of the street dust was made with the concentrations of Pb, Zn, Cu, Cr, and Ni. The main sources of Pb, Zn, Cu, and Cr are anthropic, probably due to vehicular traffic. The highest levels of Cr and Pb in urban dust represent a health risk for children. Contamination limits were proposed for heavy metals in street dust of Mexico City. These limits might be useful to generate and apply public policies to decrease anthropic emissions of the heavy metals studied, particularly Cr and Pb.

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