Quantifying crude oil contamination in sand and soil by EPR spectroscopy

Crude oil frequently contains stable radicals that allow detection by means of EPR spectroscopy. On the other hand, most sands and soils possess significant amounts of iron, manganese or other metallic species that often provide excessively broad EPR signatures combined with well-defined sharp features by quartz defects. In this study, we demonstrate the feasibility to identify oil contamination in natural environments that are subject to oil spillage during production on land, as well as beachside accumulation of marine oil spillage. Straightforward identification of oil is enabled by the radical contributions of asphaltenes, in particular by vanadyl multiplets that are absent from natural soils. This potentially allows for high-throughput soil analysis or the application of mobile EPR scanners.