Quantiatative Determination of the Levels of BTEX in Soil and Groundwater in Oyigbo, Rivers State, Nigeria

Authors: Alumona TN*, Nwadinigwe CA, ODIM OC, Ekechukwu SE and Sama JF

DOI: 10.23880/psbj-16000130

Volume 3, Issue 3

Abstract

Samples of soil and groundwater were collected and analyzed for BTEX contaminants with flame-ionization detector, HSGC- FID. In order to ascertain the quality of the groundwater, the results were compared with the United States Environmental Protection Agency and World Health Organization Drinking Water Standard for BTEX contaminants. The results showed that there were trace levels of BTEX in the groundwater. Benzene had the lowest mean concentration of 0.7 μg/L and p-xylene had the highest mean concentration of 116 μg/L. This could be traceable to the heavy petroleum activities in and around the town.

Keywords: BTEX; Flame ionization detector; Groundwater; Benzene; Xylene; P-xylene; Toluene; Ethyl benzene

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