Is it feasible to sample hydrocarbon compounds in the dissolved phase?

Print

Is it feasible to sample hydrocarbon compounds in the dissolved phase?

Is it feasible to sample hydrocarbon compounds in the dissolved phase and fully submerged screen wells?

Yes, and in fact, it's really the only thing I would recommend. At hydrocarbon sites a lot of the wells are constructed with screens back at the water table because you want to catch any floating hydrocarbon that might be present.  In fact, wells that have a significant layer of hydrocarbon on top of the water column are really not wells where you want to get a dissolved phase sample because the dissolved phase concentration would simply be the solubility of those contaminants in the water because you have source present.

But, if you want to truly see the dissolved phase at a hydrocarbon site, you want to use wells that have fully submerged screens.  At that point, you are going to get the best possible representation of what might be mobile in the groundwater in the dissolved phase.