Human Exposure: Influence of Corexit and HPEI Dispersant Application on BTEX Exposure at Crude Oil Spill Sites
There’s been speculation that responders were chemically exposed to volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and our community groups have asked if dispersant application caused workers to experience greater VOC exposures. No one has examined whether or not dispersant application resulted in greater BTEX (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene and Xylenes) exposures to workers. So our goal was to determine the degree Corexit and HPEI dispersant application influences BTEX air levels above a crude oil spill. Artificial sea water was made and dispersant to oil ratio was selected as 1:50 and oil to water ratio was selected as 1:1200. The solution was mixed for 30 min and was left for 3 hr for phase separation. Then GC-MS headspace analysis was carried out to quantify the BTEX air level above the mixture. Our results showed that Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene and Xylenes were detected above oil, oil/corexit 9500 and oil/HPEI (Mw:10,000 kDa) mixtures, however none of them were detected above Corexit or HPEI alone. Corexit application increased Ethylbenzene and Xylenes levels above the solution, but Benzene and toluene were not affected. HPEI had no detectable impact on BTEX air concentration. Corexit
application resulted in the detection of 30 tentatively identified chemicals in
air (alkanes and cycloalkanes) while HPEI application only caused 3 alkanes chemicals to be detected. Application of Corexit to crude oil spills increases the likelyhood of BTEX inhalation exposures.