Quantifying Certain Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Drinking Water of Ahvaz using HPLC

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are among contaminants of water sources, and great emphasis is put on their monitoring in aqueous environments. With this attitude, in the present study we investigate the concentration of two notable PAHs, that is, Benzo (α) pyrene and Dibenzo (a, h) anthracene in waters of the Karun as well as the impact of refinement on their levels.

For this purpose, we collected 20 samples of mixed water, each consisting of 5 samples from the Karun on entry into the Ahvaz water refinery installations number 2 and on exit. The samples were acidified with concentrated HCl to pH ≤ 2. PAHs were extracted from the samples using SPE on solid phase (C18) by acetonitrile: 20 μL of acetonitriles were injected into the HPLC machine equipped with a C18 column (5 μm, 4. 6 x 250 mm) and fluorescent detector (at wavelengths of 290 and 430 nm for excitation and emission, respectively) and flow of the mobile phase (80 acetonitrile and 20 deionized water) at 1. 2 mL/min at 40oC, The extracted PAHs were then isolated, identified and quantified.

The mean concentration of Benzo (α) pyrene and Dibenzo (a,h) anthracene in the entry and exit water of the refinery was (6. 38 and 25. 06 ppb) and (0. 43 and 8. 11 ppb), respectively.

The mean concentration of Benzo (α) pyrene and Dibenzo (a,h) anthracene in the samples studied were lower than the safe limit specified by WHO. Moreover, our findings indicate that the process of refinery had lowered the concentration of these PAHs.