Human Risk Assessment of Contaminated Soils by Oil Products: Total TPH Content Versus Fraction Approach

Petroleum hydrocarbons may cause risks for humans and the environment that must be properly managed. Some methodologies cluster hundreds of hydrocarbon substances into one single parameter, total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) ranged from C10 to C40. Several national policies establish a maximum acceptable concentration in soil to directly consider if a site is seriously contaminated; this scope may be described as a total content approach. Another approach considers TPH division into fractions according to their physico-chemical and toxicological properties, performed in terms of the environmental behavior (aliphatic and aromatic compounds) and the equivalent carbon number (EC). This approach lets us determine the associated risk for human health through the Human Risk Index (HRI). The consequences of application of the total content and fraction approaches is discussed in this study, evaluating the differences in the approach for volatile and semi-volatile hydrocarbons and also in regard to the origin of the contamination. When focusing on volatile substances, the fraction approach is much more restrictive than the total content approach where all oil products are assessed in the same way. When assessing semi-volatile hydrocarbons, their behavior varies depending on the oil product. This work contributes to the implementation of risk-based assessment for petroleum hydrocarbons.