Application of hollow fiber liquid-phase microextraction in identification of oil spill sources

In this study, hollow fiber based liquid-phase microextraction (HF-LPME), coupled with GC, GC–MS and GC–IRMS detections, was employed to determine petroleum hydrocarbons in spilled oils. According to the results, the HF-LPME method collected more low-molecular weight components, such as C7–C11 n-alkanes, naphthalene, and phenanthrene, than those collected in conventional liquid–liquid extraction (LLE). The results also showed that this method had no remarkable effect on the distributions of high-molecular weight compounds such as >C18 n-alkanes, C1–C3 phenanthrene, and hopanes. Also, the carbon isotopic compositions of individual n-alkanes in the two preparation processes were identical. Accordingly, HF-LPME, as a simple, fast, and inexpensive sample preparation technique, could become a promising method for the identification of oil spill sources.