| Alarming concerns about the increasing price of petroleum based fuel are driving the worldwide trend for research on alternative fuel sources. Coconut, peanut, and olive oils have been broadly used in the production of biofuel. Due to the economic potential of these oils, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) found in coconut, peanut, and olive oils are current topics of research interest. The objectives of this research work are to identify and characterize types, magnitude, the fraction of VOCs, and also to compare level of VOCs in crude coconut, peanut, and olive oils with VOCs in the crude petroleum oil. The analysis of VOCs in crude coconut, peanut, olive and petroleum oils in this study was performed using gas chromatography with mass spectrometer detector equipped with headspace automatic sampler. Aromatic, amine, and carbonyl compounds were the groups of VOCs detected in crude coconut and petroleum oils. The result from this study has shown that coconut, peanut, and olive oils contained VOCs; however, these were fewer than the VOCs present in petroleum oil. The data also showed that the concentrations of VOCs in coconut, peanut, and olive oils were found to be within the acceptable range according to toxicity data gathered from different government agencies, such as Occupational and Safety Health Administration (OSHA), American Conference of Government Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), United State Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and National Institute of Occupational Safety Health (NIOSH) standards.;Analysis of organic contaminants is reported for the Oluyoro stream located in the South Western Nigeria. Water samples from Oluyoro stream were collected and analyzed for organic pollutants such as 4,4'-DDT, 4-4,'DDD, heptachlor epoxide, endrin aldehyde, and endrin ketone by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID), electron capture detector (GC-ECD), and mass spectrometer detector (GC-MS). Classes of alkanes, alkenes, alcohols, and alkyl halides were detected at significant hazardous levels. All three methods detected high levels of toxic organic contaminants in the stream. Remarkably, lethal substances such as 4,4'-DDT, 4-4,'DDD, beta-BHC heptachlor epoxide, endrin aldehyde, and endrin ketone were found to be at 15820, 6176, 1155, 336, 24, and 13 times, respectively, more than the permitted levels of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. This work also discusses the correlation between the activities along the stream and the level of organic contaminants. Results provide important background for long-term effects of these contaminants on human health, ecological health, and overall environmental integrity of the region. |
