Analytical developments to study real samples from oil spill in Pernambuco coast: simulations, chemical characterization and ecotoxicity bioassays

Abstract

In the past months, the Brazilian community has witnessed the negative outcomes of the contamination of the northeastern cost caused by oil spill, due to the intense activities related to oil and gas industry. The emergency plan and responses for such disasters under Brazilian jurisdiction is defined by National Council of the Environment (CONAMA), however, there is only a shy effort by the Brazilian scientific community to research the chemical and biological impacts of oil spill on the environment and human health, creating a considerable deficiency in fundamental knowledge and understating in this area. Accordingly, there is a critical gap of knowledge, yet to be explored, regarding the impact of anthropogenic activities from the oil and gas sector to the environment, e.g., levels of contaminants found in sediments and waters. For instance, the complete scope of 'emerging' organic contaminants from oil spills in water and sediments is still unknown, due to overwhelmingly complex nature of such samples. Some hydrocarbons are commonly adopted as markers to trace oil spills in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Furthermore, polar organic compounds that migrate from petroleum to water are extremely toxic to aquatic organisms and may be persistent in the environment. However, the identification and quantitation of such markers and compounds is not a trivial task, requiring the successful application of highly selective and sensitive methods, which requires an integrated approach by combining different analytical techniques. A clear understanding of the composition of such contaminants is necessary to plan emergency responses to oil spill, since the 'simple' removal of oil from water and sediments is palliative and does not effectively address the treatment of contaminated waters and soils. Accordingly, little is known about the short- and long-term effects of such contaminants in aquatic ecosystems and the real impact on human health and local economy, namely, fishing and tourism. In this context, this research proposal aims the development of reliable methods to characterize real oil samples collected in the shores of Pernambuco and also samples generated from off- and on-shore oil spill experiments. The compositional investigation of such complex mixtures will rely on ultra-high resolution and high accuracy mass spectrometry hyphenated to chromatographic techniques (i.e., GC/MS, GC×GC/MS e LC/MS). The ecotoxicology effects of such contaminated soils and waters will be assessed using Tisbe biminiensis crustacean. The integration chemical and biological analyses will be guided by the effect-direct analysis by establishing valid and reliable chemometric models. These results should improve our understanding on the environmental impacts of oil spills, update standard methods for chemical analyses, and aid in planning treatments for contaminated soils and waters. To successfully accomplish these goals, this multidisciplinary proposal is sedimented on a team of researchers from Brazilian institutions and well-established north American researchers by exchanging fundamental knowledge through meetings and technical visiting. (AU)