Rapid Detection of Oil Pollution in Soil by Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy

Detection of oil pollution in soil has been carried out using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). A pulsed neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser (1,064 nm, 8 ns, 200 mJ) was focused onto pelletized soil samples. Emission spectra were obtained from oil-contaminated soil and clean soil. The contaminated soil had almost the same spectrum profile as the clean soil and contained the same major and minor elements. However, a C-H molecular band was clearly detected in the oil-contaminated soil, while no C-H band was detected in the clean soil. Linear calibration curve of the C-H molecular band was successfully made by using a soil sample containing various concentrations of oil. The limit of detection of the C-H band in the soil sample was 0.001 mL/g. Furthermore, the emission spectrum of the contaminated soil clearly displayed titanium (Ti) lines, which were not detected in the clean soil. The existence of the C-H band and Ti lines in oil-contaminated soil can be used to clearly distinguish contaminated soil from clean soil. For comparison, the emission spectra of contaminated and clean soil were also obtained using scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX) spectroscopy, showing that the spectra obtained using LIBS are much better than using SEM/EDX, as indicated by the signal to noise ratio (S/N ratio).