Determination of petroleum pollutants in coastal waters of the Gulf of Gdańsk

Abstract

The paper presents an improved method of determining petroleum pollutants in water based on fluorescence, which allows the oil content to be estimated with an accuracy better than 50%. The method was used to measure the oil content in Gulf of Gdańsk seawater sampled at Gdynia-Orłowo between January 2006 and September 2008. The 174 measurements made during this period ranged from 1 to 120 µg kg-1, but the majority did not exceed 20 µg kg-1. The most probable level of contamination is c. 5 µg kg-1.

Keywords

• Fluorescence
• Petroleum
• Seawater