API DR 148 : 1997

Identification Of Organic Toxicants In Treated Refinery Effluents

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Effluents from five oil refineries were examined for the presence of chronic toxicity caused by nonpolar, organic compounds. U.S. EPA guidelines for Phase I Toxicity Characterization procedures were used. The refinery effluent containing the most nonpolar toxicity was selected for more detailed analyses and identification of the nonpolar toxicants using Phase II procedures. Extraction and elution conditions were modified to increase chronic toxicity recovery and also reduce the complexity of the nonpolar organic effluent fraction containing toxicity. Results showed that simple modifications of U.S. EPA guidance for C18 solid phase extraction procedures combined with proper toxicity testing conditions successfully tracked and isolated toxicity in an effluent fraction. Findings also indicated that sources of refinery effluent toxicants were a phenol associated with a jet fuel additive and two brominated organics believed to be reaction products of cooling tower water treatment chemicals, rather than from crude oil constituents.