Near-IR Reflectance Spectroscopy for the Determination of Motor Oil Contamination in Sandy Loam

Abstract

We have investigated the application of near-IR reflectance spectroscopy to the determination of motor oil contamination in sandy loam. Although the present work is concerned with a specific case of contamination, we discuss the possibility of applying the method to other organic contaminants and other types of soil. The spectral region considered was 1600–1900 nm, which contains the first overtone of the CH stretch. Using a commercial Fourier transform spectrometer together with cross-validated partial least-squares data analysis, the one-sigma precision for the determination of motor oil in sandy loam was 0.17 wt % (0.13 to 0.26 wt % at the 95% confidence level). The largest contribution to the precision of the determination was sampling error, or inhomogeneity in each sample. Given the precision limit imposed by the sampling error, we found that the performance of the spectrometer could be lowered without affecting the overall precision. In a modeling exercise, adequate performance was obtained with a spectrometer having only seven spectral channels with a spectral resolution of 10 nm and a spectral noise level of 10−3 absorbance units. A design for an inexpensive miniature instrument is presented.

Potential of integrated field spectroscopy and spatial analysis for enhanced assessment of soil contamination: A prospective review

“…Since the mid-1990s several works in applied spectroscopy research have investigated the feasibility of using NIR and MIR for detecting contaminants in soil such as spilled diesel fuel and motor oil (Stallard et al, 1996), trichloroethylene (Vohra et al, 1996) and methylcyclopentadienyl manganese (a fuel additive) (Vreugdenhil and Butler, 1998). Buerck et al (2001) devised a fibre-optic sensor system for the determination of aromatic hydrocarbons in groundwater or industrial wastewater.…”

Reflectance Spectroscopy as a Tool for Monitoring Contaminated Soils

“…Soon after, the U.S. Department of Energy contracted a private company to investigate the application of reflectance spectroscopy to determine motor oil contamination in sandy loam. A schematic design for a field instrument was suggested, although only one contaminant and one type of soil were tested, using very few samples with a very limited range of contamination (Stallard et al 1996). A more inclusive study was conducted shortly thereafter, using three types of soil contaminated in the laboratory with diesel and gasoline.…”

NIR spectroscopy as a tool for discriminating between lichens exposed to air pollution

“…The development of portable NIR equipment has enabled on-site measurements to determine, for example, the degree to which soil is contaminated with heavy metals, oils or fuels (Kooistra et al, 2001;Stallard et al, 1996;Malley et al, 1999;Chakraborty et al, 2010). NIR spectroscopy was tested also as a fast method for characterizing the toxic effects of air pollution on trees (Gäb et al, 2006).…”