Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288:reg:13:p1
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 13 (pt 1/9)
Character Range: 850028–853155

13             Appendix 1: Determination of total recoverable hydrocarbons (TRH) in soil
This material has been adapted from procedures developed by the CRC CARE TPH Technical Working Group, convened by CRC CARE in 2009. References used include:
    * CRC CARE 2009, Health screening levels for petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and groundwater, CRC CARE TPH Technical Working Group, Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment & Remediation of Environment, Adelaide, Australia.
    * US EPA 1999, Method 1664: n-Hexane Extractable Material (HEM; Oil and Grease) and Silica Gel Treated n-Hexane Extractable Material (SGTHEM; Non-polar Material) by Extraction and Gravimetry, Revision A,  US EPA Office of Water, United States Environment Protection Authority.

13.1          Volatile (C6 – C10) and semi-volatile (>C10C40) TRH
These methods can be used to determine TRHs in soil by gas chromatography with an appropriate detector. The term 'TRH' is equivalent to the historically reported 'TPH'.

Method A1 can determine volatile TRH (vTRH) and can be used to investigate sites contaminated with petrol, other light fuels and petroleum-based solvents.

Method A2 can determine semi-volatile TRH and can be used to investigate sites contaminated with diesel, other petroleum fuels, mineral oil and petroleum-based solvents.

The methods are performance-based and designed to be rapid and economical. To obtain consistent and reliable results, they should be carried out by experienced analysts trained in the operation, maintenance and troubleshooting of GC instrumentation and in interpretation of gas chromatograms.

This section describes the general principles common to both methods, including quality control and method validation procedures.

The term 'TRHtotal recoverable hydrocarbons' should be used when referring to data generated using these test methods where no clean-up is employed.

If silica clean-up is employed, the results should be qualified as 'TRHsilica'.

    13.1.1     Quality control considerations
Standard quality controls are required to ensure the correct performance of these methods (see Section 4). Quality control measures should include a calibration verification standard (CVS)—consisting of a hydrocarbon product mix—and a laboratory control sample (LCS)—consisting of a suitable hydrocarbon product mix. Ideally, the LCS should be spiked with hydrocarbons that test all fractions reported.

Calibration verification standard (CVS) – A known quantity of hydrocarbon product(s) is/are dissolved in extraction solvent. This standard should contain hydrocarbons covering the required hydrocarbon fractions being analysed and serves as a check on the GC system and quantification procedure. The CVS should be between 80 and 120% of the expected concentration in the sample. This can be run once per sequence or 24 hour period.

Laboratory control sample (LCS)  As a minimum, a laboratory control sample should be run with each batch of 20 samples. This quality control sample should be processed through the entire analytical method and reported with the data. The LCS is a clean