Sourcing Environmental PAHs: A Review

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are organic pollutants that accumulate in the environment as a result of both natural and human processes. The molecular and isotopic signatures of these compounds vary depending on production conditions, and can be exploited to trace PAH contaminants in the environment to a particular source or responsible party. Environmental forensics investigations relating to PAHs are often motivated by environmental remediation or litigation efforts and depend heavily on geochemical principles. the field has recently benefitted from the application of compound-specific stable isotope analysis (CSIA) to the source apportionment of PAHs. Although many advances have been made with this strategy since it was introduced sixteen years ago, further research is needed to overcome deficiencies in the database of isotopic signatures, technological limitations, and a lack of standardized methods.