Oil in Water Analysis

Oil and grease is one of the five conventional pollutants covered by the 1974 Clean Water Act. The measurement of oil and grease is included in all of the National Pollution Discharge Elimination Systems (NPDES) permits, all pre-treatment permits, and all Industrial Effluent Guidelines. As a result of the Montreal Protocol, which entered into force in 1989, EPA was required to move from a Freon extraction infrared-based determination method to a n-Hexane extraction mass-based determination method, creating four new issues: 1) a flammable liquid is required, 2) n-Hexane is a known neurotoxin in addition to other known health concerns, such as potential harm to fertility, 3) the analytical time is significantly increased, and 4) we are left with a large amount of n-Hexane for disposal. An estimated 1.1 million liters of n-Hexane and is used each year for EPA Method 1664A analyses.

Video Demonstration of ASTM Method D7575

OSS has introduced a next-generation solution to oil in water and related analyses (patent pending). Our environmentally friendly, optical based apparatus replaces solvent liquid-liquid extraction techniques. It advances the state of the art and eliminates current method shortfalls by providing a solventless, economical, and accurate measurement of hydrocarbons in processed and waste water at concentrations in ppm and ppb ranges. The associated method “ASTM WK23240 – Standard Method for Solvent-Free Membrane Recoverable Oil and Grease by Infrared Determination” is currently being balloted for approval as a fully validated ASTM method. It will remedy the four issues listed above by removing the use of hexane or any other solvent from the analysis or cleanup. Furthermore, easy adoption of this method is anticipated because it incorporates central elements of current and past methodologies.