Evaluation of detection performance of turbidity analysis for alcohol-extracted hydrocarbons by comparison with other analytical methods for petroleum in soil samples

To verify the validity of the simple detection method aimed at in this study and confirm the ability of the turbidity analysis as a screening method for alcohol-extracted organic compounds, the performance was compared with the methods commonly used in laboratories or gravimetry and gas chromatographyflame ionization detection technique (GC-FID). As a result, the turbidity analysis worked to simply detect petroleum at concentration levels of 500 to 10,000 mg kg^-1 and was comparable to other methods over a variety of soil properties and petroleum hydrocarbon compounds. The turbidity analysis is helpful for screening soils polluted with organic compounds extractable with alcohol, without any special reagents or apparatus at a site.