Environmental modification of PAH composition in coal tar containing samples

Anaerobic biodegradation of naphthalene, phenanthrene, and biphenyl by a denitrifying enrichment culture

“…The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) include several Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) priority pollutants and are found at many Superfund sites and other petroleum-impacted areas (ATSDR, 1990;Johnston et al, 1993;Menzie et al, 1992;Shiaris, 1989;Turney and Goerlitz, 1990). Their prevalence in polluted sediments is of particular concern because these environments are frequently anaerobic (Meador et al, 1995) and PAHs are typically thought to be recalcitrant to biodegradation without oxygen as a reactant (Bauer and Capone, 1985;Evans and Fuchs, 1988;Genthner et al, 1997).…”

Sources of PAHs in the Environment

“…The soils in these sites are usually highly contaminated with a range of compound classes including phenols, cresols, aliphatic hydrocarbons, benzenes, PAHs and sundry organics such as dibenzofurans, etc. [10]; [41].The coal-tar itself consists of 2-300 components, less than half of which can be identified with traditional analytical techniques [48], and has high levels of PAHs, particularly high molecular mass compounds (in contrast to creosote, above), with PAH (20 PAH) constituting> 80% of the quantified organic compounds in the tar residues from one study [22]. Table 3 compares concentrations of compounds from studies on coal-tar from the USA (including the [22]) and the UK.…”

Identification, Quantification and Distribution of Pac-Metabolites, Heterocyclic Pac and Substituted Pac in Groundwater Samples of Tar-Contaminated Sites From Germany

“…Furthermore, in several European countries tar was used, for example, as corrosion protection for water pipes (6,7). Original tar contains a higher percentage of non-polar PAH compared to PAC-metabolites, substituted PAC and heterocyclic PAC (PASH, PANH, PAOH) as degradation and transformation products (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15). Due to higher water solubility and corresponding lower K OWvalues, polar PAH derivatives show an increasing tendency for distribution in groundwater flow direction and bioavailability.…”