What are Petroleum Hydrocarbon (PHC)

Petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) are comprised of a broad range of thousands of different chemical compounds that originate from naturally occurring geological sources including crude oil, bitumen, natural gas and coal.
Contamination from PHCs is one of the most common types of soil and groundwater pollution in Canada. They can vary in their potential for distribution, bioavailability, toxicity and persistence.

Why Conduct PHC Testing?

PPB Analytical provides PHCs analysis of soil, water, sludge, sediments, and organics (such as food). The PPB Analytical Sample Preparation and Analysis Method for PHCs is modified from US EPA methods 3500C, 3510C, 3550C, 3630C, 8260C, and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment Protocol for Analytical Methods Used in the Assessment of Properties under Part XV.1 of the Environmental Protection Act.

Our accredited method is suitable for extracting PHCs from liquids and solids such as water, soils, sludges, and wastes. The analytical instrument involved in PHCs analysis is a gas chromatography system with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID).

The PHC testing package detects the following compounds:

• • F1, (nC6 to nC10). This fraction contains hydrocarbon chains from C6 to C10.
    Described as F1-BTEX when BTEX is analyzed separately and subtracted from F1.
  • F2, (nC10 to nC16). This fraction contains hydrocarbon chains from C10 to C16.
    Described as F2-Napthalene when naphthalene is analyzed separately and subtracted from F2.
  • F3, (nC16 to nC34). This fraction contains hydrocarbon chains from C16 to C34.
    Described as F3-PAH when PAHs are analyzed separately and subtracted from F3.
  • F4, (nC34 to nC50). This fraction contains hydrocarbon chains from C34 to C50.