POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBON IDENTIFICATION IN COALS by GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY-MASS SPECTROMETRY
The coal mining process will increase the distribution of teratogenic, carcinogenic, and mutagenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Due to the reported potential environmental and health hazards of PAHs, the content of PAHs in Sajau lignite has been investigated. The extraction method and GC-MS were applied to identify the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The GC-MS results showed that 16 PAHs were detected, and as much as 10,854 ± 1,354 μg/g is the total concentration of PAHs, with a predominance of medium molecular weight. The dominant fraction is the tetracyclic aromatic fraction (71.3% by weight). In contrast, bicyclic aromatics, tricyclic aromatics, pentacyclic aromatics, and hexacyclic are close to each other with the composition of 0.8 wt.%, 26.4 wt.%, and 0.9 wt.%, 0.6% respectively, as PAH and PAH derivatives. Knowledge of identified PAH concentrations to monitor and prevent pollution in this area after the mining closure.
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