Analysis of the Monoaromatic and Polycyclic Hydrocarbons of the oil recovered in 2021 from the spill in the APA dos Corais in 2019 Juliana dos Santos Pereira, Debora Cristina Nascimento de Santana, Rafael Garrett Dolatto, Marco Tadeu Grassi, Camilo Dias Seabra Pereira, Helen Sadauskas-Henrique

Abstract

The oil spill that spread along the coast of Northeast Brazil in 2019 reached several regions causing the death of marine and coastal organisms. The oil contaminated several points in the Costa dos Corais environmental protection area located in the states of Alagoas and Pernambuco in Brazil. After two years of disaster, our study sought to recover traces of material spilled in 2019 for analysis and quantification of hydrocarbons. The sample recovered in 2021 proved to be a very weathered oil with amounts of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons below the detection limit. The results for Monoaromatic Hydrocarbons showed only Toluene with a value of 11,5 µg/L in seawater and 18,9 µg/L in the 100% soluble fraction. The oil recovered in the APA showed a significant weathering process with loss of several components of its constitution two years after the disaster.