A simple and rapid method for identifying the source of spilled oil using an electronic nose: confirmation by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry.

Two types of electronic nose (EN), different in operational principle, were used to identify the source of spilled oil in an accident. The suspected sources considered were petroleum oil reservoirs and pipelines located near the site of the accident. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), operated in both EI and CI modes, was employed to confirm the identified source. The advantage of multisensors in spatially resolved sensing for direct multicomponent analysis was explored to minimize tedious sample preparation procedures. Subsequent principal component analysis helped in identifying the source. The advantage of fast separation in temporally resolved sensing was explored to rapidly yield compositional information; the resulting graphical representations helped clarify the source. Traditional GC/MS not only confirms the identified spilled oil source, but also provides detailed diagnostic information such as total petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and their C1-C4 alkylated homologues, as well as the n-alkanes, which are essential for follow-up remedial and regulatory actions. The main use of the electronic nose was demonstrated to be as a simple and rapid screening method for identifying a spilled oil source.