Summary of results from the 2014/2015 Hydrocarbon Intercalibration Experiment (HIE)

Published

May 27, 2016

Author(s)

Christopher Reddy, Stephen Wise, Lane C. Sander, Jacolin Murray

Abstract

Following an open meeting entitled, "Hydrocarbon Chemistry QA/QC," at the 2014 Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Science Conference in Mobile, Alabama, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) initiated the Hydrocarbon Intercalibration Experiment (HIE). The aim of this effort was to address the need for advancing the importance of laboratory quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) practices and for interlaboratory comparison and calibration for hydrocarbon compounds. Over thirty laboratories expressed interest and were supplied from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with two standard reference materials (SRMs) for analysis (SRM 2779 Gulf of Mexico Crude Oil and candidate SRM 2777 Weathered Gulf of Mexico Oil). SRM 2779 was prepared from neat oil collected directly from the leaking Macondo well during the Deepwater Horizon disaster while candidate SRM 2777 is a field-weathered residue of the Macondo well oil dissolved in toluene. Twenty laboratories submitted results on traditional analytes measured by gas chromatography, ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry, toxicity, shear viscosity, and interfacial tension, which were initially discussed in an afternoon workshop during the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Science Conference in Houston, TX on February 16, 2015. The majority of the participants focused on the traditionally measured analytes (saturates, aromatics, and biomarkers) found in crude oil and its refined products, and overall performed very well compared to known values for SRM 2779. The field-weathered candidate SRM 2777 presented greater challenges due to the lower concentrations of analytes. A more comprehensive report on these analyses will be published in a future NIST internal report.

Citation

Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative

Pub Weblink

http://gulfresearchinitiative.org/hydrocarbon-intercalibration-experiment/.

Pub Type

Websites

Citation

Reddy, C. , Wise, S. , Sander, L. and Murray, J. (2016), Summary of results from the 2014/2015 Hydrocarbon Intercalibration Experiment (HIE), Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, [online], http://gulfresearchinitiative.org/hydrocarbon-intercalibration-experiment/. (Accessed May 8, 2026)

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