Study of Available Methods to Evaluate the Concentrations of 16 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) in Mine Waters from the North Bohemian Brown Coal Basin

Abstract

Mine water samples from North Bohemian Brown Coal Basin (NBBCB), the Czech Republic, were tested. These mine waters were taken from the drilled hydrological wells in the mentioned NBBCB area. The purpose of the analysis was to find an available method to evaluate the concentration of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) using available equipment. Mine water samples were taken in February and April 2020 from the NBBCB area. Samples were first concentrated using Solid Phase Extraction (SPE). The extracts were then analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in conjunction with the diode array detector (DAD) external standard method. The standard ISO 17993 was used in the analysis procedure, which was optimized for the HPLC/DAD system. The original detection limit of 0.005 µg/l set by the standard was adjusted to 0.0025 µg/l for 16 PAHs by optimizing the method. The total content of 16 PAHs ranged from values below the detection limit to 0.7315 µg/l. All concentrations were below the limit values for groundwater. The results showed that the mine waters from the NBBCB area are not contaminated with PAHs.