A Preliminary Study of the Odorants of Interest in Native Crude Oils to Oil Detection Canines
Conference
Vaughan, SR, Gokool, V, Karpinsky, M et al. (2022). A Preliminary Study of the Odorants of Interest in Native Crude Oils to Oil Detection Canines
. 175-191.
Vaughan, SR, Gokool, V, Karpinsky, M et al. (2022). A Preliminary Study of the Odorants of Interest in Native Crude Oils to Oil Detection Canines
. 175-191.
Detection technologies for subsurface oil during shoreline spill responses rely heavily on labor-intensive and time-consuming techniques since it is obscured by sediment. Canines have been successful at detecting small deposits of oil over widespread areas of shoreline and can cover a greater area in less time than other techniques with high accuracy. The headspace of crude oil is composed of a complex mixture of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that yield a unique odor profile allowing for canine detection; however, the volatile components that canines utilize for olfactory detection is unknown. The goal of this research was to determine the components used by oil detection canines for olfactory detection. The odor profiles of several crude oils were characterized by solid phase microextraction (SPME) with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS). To elucidate which VOCs are responsible for detection, canine testing probes were created from fractions of the oil headspace. To do this, fractions of the chromatogram were eluted and collected onto sorbent materials. The sorbent materials containing the oil vapor fractions, as well as positive and negative controls, were used as probes in canine testing exercises. Three fractions from fresh crude oils were presented and the canines gave a positive response rate of 67% to two out of three fractions and 100% response to the remaining fraction. These results indicate that canines are capable of detecting crude oil from any fraction of the odor profile and speak to the canines’ ability to generalize across many types of crude oils even when source or weathering may affect the headspace profile of the oil. Future testing of canines will further elucidate the effects of sample source on canine detection and odor profile composition.
