Application of Chemical Fingerprinting for Pollutant Source Characterization. Steave H. Su, Linda M. Hanna, and Robert M. Little, Sciences International, Inc., 1800 Diagonal Road, Alexandria, VA 22314
A number of chemical fingerprinting methods are used to characterize the source of pollutants. Depending on the level of sophistication, chemical fingerprinting analysis can identify sources, determine the extent of contamination, and apportion the individual contributions of multiple sources. The classical fingerprinting analysis relies on the identification of "signature" chemicals associated with specific sources. In more quantitative methods, the relative proportion of two or more chemicals in the environmental samples are analyzed. The evaluation of relative proportion of multiple chemicals is advantages where signature chemicals are difficult to identify or several sources may share the same signature chemicals. Recently, new techniques are used to allow scientists to quantify the relative contributions of different pollutant sources based upon the patterns formed by multiple chemicals. A case example will be presented to demonstrate the application of different chemical fingerprinting techniques. The results of these analysis will be used to contrast the strength and weaknesses of each technique.