Screening of chemical composition of coal tar and creosote treated used railway sleepers collected in Lithuania using gas chromatography mass spectrometry

Abstract

The screening of PAH in used wooden railway sleepers, treated with coal tar and creosote for their protection against biodegradation, has been made, on the basis of cold solvent extraction and Soxhlet extraction of the PAH and their determination by GC-MS/GC-FID. Thirty samples collected from Kaunas region and twenty from Klaipeda region were analyzed. Research has been made and samples were classified according several parameters including age, decay status, and chemical composition of the impregnation of the sleeper. Cluster analysis showed the dispersion of the samples which are related to their PAH composition and quantity. The composition of chemicals varies between intact and rotten sleepers. Few sleeper samples differ from others with strong coal tar odor and dark color. Analysis resulted in the total amount of PAH in the extracts of these samples exceeding 1000 ppm per milliliter.