Hydrocarbon Detector Measures Rural River After Oil Spill Incident Involving a Diesel Truck

Ag Solve used a CTG UviLux ‘Oil-Wader’ system to track the pollutant in the surrounding rivers following the oil spill.

An accident on the Bandeirantes Highway (Sp-348) resulted in an Oil truck spilling its load. The spill of 30,000 litres of diesel contaminated areas in two cities in São Paulo State. Two days after the incident, Ag Solve sent a team to the area to check for traces of contaminants in the rivers.

Mauro Banderali from Ag Solve used a CTG UviLux ‘Oil-Wader’ system to track the pollutant in the surrounding rivers. "We had already checked the water quality of the river before the accident. The UviLux had reported very low hydrocarbon readings (5-20 units). When we monitored the water following the accident the UviLux registered at points 60-70 units," said Mauro. The Ag Solve team detected a high presence of contaminants in the River Toledos near the road where the incident had occured two days earlier.

Further readings were taken with the UviLux PAH fluorometer at different points in the river near the cities of Sumaré and Santa Bárbera do Oeste..

The Ag Solve team concluded that the values represented by the measurement results of the fuel dissolution in the river were considerable, making constant monitoring of the region a necessity for a better evaluation of the environmental damages and to inform on the right methods for remediation at the contaminated area. Ag Solve used a Chelsea Technologies Ltd UviLux hydrocarbon fluorometer for their survey. The UviLux is an extremely sensitive digital UV fluorimeter for on-site applications. It allows the user to monitor in real-time the concentration of polyaromatic hydrocarbons including BTEX, Diesel fuel and crude hydrocarbons. It has been used for hydrocarbon detection around drilling rigs and monitoring of airport runoff, coastal pollution and for monitoring the quality of recycled water.