A Simplified Procedure for the Determination of TPH’s in Waters and Soils Using the HC-404 System

The determination of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH), greases, and lubricant residues are important environmental and industrial tests. These tests are currently done by extracting and washing, respectively, the materials being tested with Freon-113 (Dupont), or equivalent non-hydrocarbon solvent. Since the methodology defines only a relative measure of total hydrocarbons, it is understood that a sample extraction procedure needs to be more reproducible than accurate. This application note details two simplified procedures for the analysis of TPH in water samples and soils.