Revista de Gestão da Zona Costeira

Abstrato

Determination of PAHs in Selected Sampling Location in Langkawi Island, Malaysia

Lias K, Jamil T and Afifah R

Surface seawater samples were collected from five selected sampling locations in the Langkawi Island during the northeast monsoon season in March 2013. Water samples were extracted by using two different solid phase microextraction (SPME) fibers followed by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID) analysis. Naphthalene compound (2-rings) indicated no significant different (p>0.05) extracted by using 65 μm-PDMS-DVB and anthracene compound (3-rings) extracted by using 85 μm-PA fibers. The average spike recovery for PAHs ranged from 64.8 to 94.0%. Total PAH concentration (Σ3 PAHs) ranged from 10.79 μg/mL to 369.28 μg/mL which exceed the maximum admissible concentration of PAHs (0.0002 μg/mL) for the water standard of European Union. The result revealed that the surface seawater around the Langkawi Island was highly contaminated by PAHs. The high concentration of PAHs may be due to extensive port associated activities.