You will detect PAH in coals, although most of the coal is going to be present as much large complex molecules than your standard 2-6 ring PAH. The PAH composition
of is very much going to be dependent of the coal type (e.g. stage in the coalification process it has reached). The coals which have the highest PAH content are sub-bituminous/bituminous coals.
By using solvent extraction, it has been shown that the PAH tend to be found primarily as alkylated 2 and 3 ring PAH in bituminous coal, but as they become more
mature and form into Anthracite, the 5-6 ring PAH start to predominate. There are similarity between pyrolysis and coalification as to the action rendered on the coal, albeit over much different time scales.
Best Regards
Russell
Dr Russell Thomas
Technical Director
Kings Orchard,
1 Queen St, Bristol,
BS2 0HQ
Direct tel: +44(0) 1179 306374
Switchboard: +44(0) 1179 306200
Mob:
+44(0)7879 602509
www.wspgroup.co.uk
www.pbworld.com
Check out our Linkedin
page
Follow us on Twitter
Brownfield Briefing Awards 2014 for ‘Best Conceptual Design’ winner (Parsons Brinckerhoff)
Confidential
This message, including any document or file attached, is intended only for the addressee and may contain privileged and/or confidential information. Any other person is strictly prohibited from reading, using, disclosing or copying this message. If you have
received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete the message. Thank you.
Parsons Brinckerhoff Ltd, Registered Office: Amber Court, William Armstrong Drive Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 7YQ. Registration number 2554514 England
and Wales.
P
If possible, please consider saving paper by not printing your e-mail.
From: Contaminated
Land Management Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Jackson, David
Sent: 27 April 2015 09:21
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Wood ash / Allotment BaP
Hi Russell,
I have some data on background levels of BAP in coal measures [see below]. They are from greenfield sites i.e. no known industrial past uses and confirmed virgin soils i.e. no made ground. If there of use to the community then great.
|
Setting |
Depth [m] |
Level [mg/kg] |
|||
|
Semi-Urban - Non Roadside |
0.1-0.6 |
0.53 |
|||
|
Semi-Urban - Non Roadside |
0.2 |
0.2 |
|||
|
Semi-Urban - Non Roadside |
0.1 |
0.15 |
|||
|
Semi-Urban - Non Roadside |
0.1-0.4 |
0.2 |
|||
|
Semi-Urban - Non Roadside |
0.2 |
0.42 |
|||
|
Semi-Urban - Non Roadside |
0.1 |
0.3 |
|||
|
Semi-Urban - Non Roadside |
0.2 |
0.2 |
|||
|
Semi-Urban - Non Roadside |
0.02-0.05 |
0.1 |
|||
|
Semi-Urban - Non Roadside |
0.2-0.3 |
0.1 |
|||
|
Semi-Urban - Roadside |
0.1 |
1.1 |
|||
|
Semi-Urban - Roadside |
0.3-0.5 |
1.62 |
|||
|
Semi-Urban - Roadside |
0.2 |
0.25 |
|||
|
Urban - Non Roadside |
0.1 |
0.1 |
|||
|
Urban - Non Roadside |
0.2 |
0.16 |
|||
|
Urban - Non Roadside |
0.2-0.35 |
1.3 |
|||
|
Urban - Non Roadside |
0.1-0.3 |
0.7 |
|||
|
Urban - Roadside |
0.05 |
3.03 |
|||
|
Urban - Roadside |
0.05 |
6.40 |
|||
|
Urban - Roadside |
0.05 |
2.35 |
|||
|
Urban - Roadside |
0.35 |
3.3 |
|||
|
Urban - Roadside |
0.1-0.3 |
0.7 |
|||
|
Average |
1.1 |
||||
|
Std Deviation |
1.6 |
||||
|
n |
21 |
||||
|
95% Confidence Level |
0.7 |
||||
Regards
Dave
David Jackson
Land Quality Officer
Wakefield Council
Regeneration & Economic Growth | Environmental Health
Wakefield One | P.O Box 700 | Burton Street | Wakefield | WF1 2EB
t 0345 8506506
m 07810152565
w www.wakefield.gov.uk/landquality
-----Original Message-----
From: Contaminated Land Management Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Russell Corbyn
Sent: 27 April 2015 9:02 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Wood ash / Allotment BaP
How do
Interesting plot. I am guessing that it is not just wood (totally untreated and all) that is burnt on the fires. Maybe that could add a few things of interest or mix up the results a bit. Not sure I'd consider 16.8mg/kg to be high though.
I totally agree that it would make a great project, especially comparison of soils from around the world including those on volcanic ash derived soils and also places such as here in/around Coal Measures with all of our PAH rich coaliferous
soils too. The question then is are wood ash derived PAHs that much worse for you than naturally high soil PAHs?
Blimey. The hits just keep on coming.
Russell
-----Original Message-----
From: Taylor, Christopher [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 24 April 2015 10:32
To: 'Russell Corbyn';
[log in to unmask]
Subject: RE: Wood ash / Allotment BaP
Right, I have done the double ratio plots, and the source is coal derived. I have attached the plot.
This must be a legacy of historic practices, as I don't know of any plot holders who bring ash from their fireplaces/coal burning stoves to their allotments. Just how persistent are PAHs in soil that is regularly worked for growing veg?
Also, plant derived ash is definitely present, but if the PAHs detected in the lab analysis are coal derived, does this imply that the PAH concentrations of the wood ash are negligible in comparison, i.e. do we have a mixture of the
two ash types where a dominant more highly concentrated coal derived PAH is dominating the results?
This is all I have found on the composition of wood ash, from the following paper:
http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/use_of_ash_in_forestry.pdf/$FILE/use_of_ash_in_forestry.pdf (thanks to Jonathan Parry for the link)
Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
Data quoted by Someshwar from Diebel et al. (1992) indicate that the types of PAHs found in wood ash are those of the two and three ring constituents, which are less toxic than the four and five ring compounds.
Naphthalene proved the most plentiful in his study (1.6 mg/kg), but many compounds were below detection levels in the samples. In a recent study in Switzerland wood ash derived from a pure burn at 550 – 650 ºC was added to mineral soils,
and monitored for both PAH and PCB compounds (Bundt et al., 2001). The wood ash was found to have high concentrations of PAHs (the sum of 20 types equated to 16.8 mg/kg). However, the PCB addition to soils from the wood ash was low (totalling 14 types which
equated to 3.4μg/kg) . The exact nature of the wood burned was not recorded.
I imagine that the temperature of the fire, type and age of plant material etc, all have a role to play in the PAH composition. Seems like a great MSc/PhD project to investigate the PAH composition of purely plant derived ash.
Regards
Christopher Taylor
Enforcement Officer
Regulatory Services
Brent Council
Tel: 020 8937 5159
-----Original Message-----
From: Contaminated Land Management Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Russell Corbyn
Sent: 23 April 2015 16:28
Subject: Re: Wood ash / Allotment BaP
Now there is a sensible scientific approach, not just an idea!
Not that they (double ratio plots) are at exceptionally accurate but there are so many other sources of deposition for PAHs and their attachment to fugitive dusts from exhausts, fire depositions, weathered macadam dust, spilt oils and
so on. They are ubiquitous and it would give an approximation and the grouping of data would become immediately apparent.
I now have several hundred macadam PAH analyses and there is good agreement with the vast majority of data. It also becomes apparent what level of PAH is noise. With the levels of most environmental soil PAH analysis being quite noisy
due to the distribution being in reality quite close to the limit of detection of tests (and let us not forget the lab error bars that must be applied to that) I feel sure that there would be substantially more noise than in my macadam samples.
I don't like the "let's just look at BaP level" approach to PAH provenance assessment because it is a very narrow view and tells us not very much.
Cheers
Russell
-----Original Message-----
From: Contaminated Land Management Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Mark Henderson
Sent: 23 April 2015 11:42
Subject: Re: Wood ash / Allotment BaP
It would be interesting to see the whole BaP set with fluoranthene, pyrene, BaA and chrysene. You could then plug them into a double ratio plot and see if they point to a single source.
Just an idea
Regards
Mark C Henderson BSc(Hons) MSc DIC MIEnvSc Technical Director
Mobile: 07736 058 007
Office: 01223 632800
M L M
Buildings and Infrastructure ∙ Environment Planning and Development ∙ Compliance ∙ Sustainability
Follow us online:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mlmgrp
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mlm_group
LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/company/mlm-group
Emails are sent on behalf of the MLM company which is named in the relevant signed appointment or if none exists, in our fee proposal or (if MLM is acting as client) in our order. Companies Act information for MLM Group companies is
available at http://www.mlm.uk.com/about_company.php.
-----Original Message-----
From: Contaminated Land Management Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Taylor, Christopher
Sent: 23 April 2015 07:57
Subject: Re: Wood ash / Allotment BaP
Hi Chris
Sure. Here are the BaP results from 7 random allotments.
3.44 17.70 26.30 5.97 7.20 2.93 9.45 15.12 12.25 14.73
1.58 2.17 0.64 2.56 3.20 7.14 2.85 0.85 0.85 6.37
0.83 <0.05 <0.05 0.98 8.72 0.59 3.47 0.32 3.16 0.70
3.48 1.87 5.40 2.54 3.71 2.34 0.67 8.56 1.73 1.96 2.02 11.67 2.52 10.86
2.69 1.95 8.11 12.43 7.73 0.58 8.99 8.69 14.17 5.65 3.56 5.86 3.32 3.62 7.46 6.13 7.63 6.54 9.59 3.52
3.20 3.78 0.83 7.42 4.74 3.55 9.95 4.19
3.60 3.13 5.33 5.13 3.96
1.02 0.99 1.38 2.32 1.02 2.44 2.44 3.16
Regards
Christopher Taylor
Enforcement Officer
Regulatory Services
Brent Council
Tel: 020 8937 5159
-----Original Message-----
From: Contaminated Land Management Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of Chris Dainton
Sent: 22 April 2015 23:33
Subject: Re: Wood ash / Allotment BaP
Neil & Chris
Can you share the BaP results (just the numbers will do) from the allotment testing you've undertaken so the List can get a feel of the range of BaP numbers encountered, rather than just min - max etc.
Cheers
Chris Dainton
--
The use of Brent Council's e-mail system may be monitored and communications read in order to secure effective operation of the system and other lawful purposes.
If you have received this transmission in error, we apologise. Please notify us immediately and permanently delete this message, keeping its contents confidential. We monitor email correspondence for security and management purposes.
We will rely on any instructions to us or data that you include in your emails. We scan emails for malicious code but you should also take steps to protect your IT systems. We will not accept email disclaimers which differ from this one.
--
The use of Brent Council's e-mail system may be monitored and communications read in order to secure effective operation of the system and other lawful purposes.
The WMDC Disclaimer can be found at:
http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/SiteInformation/E-MailDisclaimer/default.htm