Open AccessQuantitative and qualitative analysis of contaminating hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Santiago de Cuba by gas chromatography
Author(s) -
Liliana Mesa Mesa,
José Falcón Hernández,
Alexander Mulet De los Reyes,
Juan Ramón Castellanos González
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
boletin de investigaciones marinas y costeras/boletín de investigaciones marinas y costeras
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2590-4671
pISSN - 0122-9761
DOI - 10.25268/bimc.invemar.2021.50.1.1017
Subject(s) - bay , gas chromatography , contamination , refinery , environmental science , petroleum , pollutant , qualitative analysis , oil refinery , hydrocarbon , fuel oil , environmental chemistry , geography , chemistry , environmental engineering , geology , chromatography , archaeology , oceanography , biology , ecology , qualitative research , social science , organic chemistry , sociology
The coasts of Cuba are exposed to damage caused by the contamination by petroleum hydrocarbons. The coastal strip of the Gulf of Santiago de Cuba is an example of natural resources deterioration due to this contamination, which appears as one of its mainenvironmental problems. In the present work, using gas chromatography, quantitative and qualitative analysis were performed based on the retention time values and the area under the chromatogram curve, which allowed characterizing the degree of contamination at four points of the bay of Santiago de Cuba: playa La Estrella (P1), “Guillermón Moncada” Port (P2) “Hermanos Díaz” Oil Refinery (P3), “Antonio Maceo” Thermoelectric Power Plant RENTE (P4). Retention times of individual peaks in chromatograms of individual sampleswith several standards, thus obtaining the types of hydrocarbons present at each point, with points P2 and P3 being the ones with the highest pollutant and the highest concentration by peak height. Fuel oil turned out to be the most polluting agent present in the bay.