Abstract

Current environmental legislation demands that new methods for the quantitative analysis of oil and water mixtures are found, and optical techniques represent the leading prospect to replace the present chemical sampling methods. Photoacoustic spectroscopy has a general scope of application for the detection of pollutants in water, and is particularly promising for monitoring oil and oil products in water. The acoustic signal generated by the absorption of radiation in many hydrocarbons is typically an order of magnitude greater than that generated in water, for the same sample optical absorption coefficient and optical pulse conditions.

© 1993 Optical Society of America