Malaysian
Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 20 No 2 (2016): 278 - 287
CHEMOMETRIC ANALYSIS OF SELECTED ORGANIC
CONTAMINANTS IN SURFACE WATER OF LANGAT RIVER BASIN
(Analisis Kemometrik
Bahan Cemar Organik Terpilih dalam Air Permukaan Lembangan Sungai Langat)
Mohamad Rafaie Mohamed Zubir , Rozita Osman,
Norashikin Saim*
Faculty of
Applied Sciences,
Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam,
Selangor, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: noras691@salam.uitm.edu.my
Received: 9
December 2014; Accepted: 9 October 2015
Abstract
Chemometric techniques namely hierarchical agglomerative cluster
analysis (HACA), discriminant analysis (DA), principal component analysis (PCA)
and factor analysis (FA) were applied to the
distribution of selected organic contaminants (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs), sterols, pesticides (chlorpyrifos), and phenol) to assess the potential
of using these organic contaminants as chemical markers in Langat River Basin. Water
samples were collected from February 2012 to January 2013 on a monthly basis
for nine monitoring sites along Langat River Basin. HACA was able to classify
the sampling sites into three clusters which can be correlated to the level of
contamination (low, moderate and high contamination
sites). DA was used to discriminate the sources of contamination using the
selected organic contaminants and relate to the existing DOE local activities groupings.
Forward and backward stepwise DA was able to discriminate two and five organic
contaminants variables, respectively, from the original 13 selected variables.
The five significant variables identified using backward stepwise DA were
fluorene, pyrene, stigmastanol, stigmasterol and phenol. PCA and FA (varimax
functionality) were used to identify the possible sources of each organic
contaminant based on the inventory of local
activities. Five principal components were obtained with 66.5% of the
total variation. Result from FA indicated that PAHs (pyrene, fluorene,
acenaphthene, benzo[a]anthracene) originated from industrial activity and
socio-economic activities; while sterols (coprostanol, stigmastanol and stigmasterol)
were associated to
domestic sewage and local socio-economic activities. The occurrence of
chlorpyrifos was correlated to agricultural activities, urban and domestic
discharges. This study showed that the application of chemometrics on the distribution
of selected organic contaminants was able to trace the sources of contamination
in surface water.
Keywords: chemometrics, organic contaminants, chemical markers,
Langat River
Abstrak
Teknik
kemometriks iaitu Analisis Kelompok Agglomeratif Berhieraki (HACA), Analisis
Diskriminan (DA), Analisis Komponen Utama (PCA) dan Analisis Faktor (FA) telah diaplikasi
ke atas taburan bahan pencemar organik terpilih (aromatik hidrokarbon
polisiklik (PAH), sterol, racun perosak (klorpirifos), dan fenol) untuk menilai
potensi penggunaan bahan pencemar organik ini sebagai bahan pengesan di
Lembangan Sungai Langat. Sampel air diambil dari bulan Februari 2012 hingga
Januari 2013 pada setiap bulan di sembilan stesen pemantauan sepanjang
Lembangan Sungai Langat. HACA dapat mengkelaskan kawasan persampelan kepada
tiga kelompok yang boleh dikaitkan dengan tahap pencemaran (pencemaran rendah, pencemaran
sederhana dan pencemaran tinggi). DA telah digunakan untuk membezakan sumber –sumber
pencemaran dengan menggunakan bahan – bahan organik terpilih dan mengaitkannya
dengan aktiviti – aktiviti setempat berdasarkan DOE. Analisis Diskriminan
Langkah Hadapan dan Belakang masing – masing dapat mendiskriminasikan dua dan
lima pembolehubah bahan pencemar organik daripada 13 pembolehubah asal yang dipilih. Lima pembolehubah yang
penting adalah fluorena, pyrena, stigmastanol, stigmasterol dan fenol. PCA dan
FA telah digunakan untuk mengenalpasti sumber – sumber bagi setiap bahan pencemar
organik berdasarkan inventori aktiviti setempat. Lima komponen utama telah
diperolehi dengan 66.5 % daripada jumlah variasi. Hasil daripada FA menunjukkan
PAH (pirena, flurena, asenaphtena, benzo[a]antrasena) berpunca dari kegiatan
industri dan aktiviti sosio-ekonomi; manakala sterol (coprostanol, stigmastanol
dan stigmasterol) daripada kumbahan domestik dan aktiviti – aktiviti
sosio-ekonomi setempat. Kehadiran klorpirifos telah dikaitkan dengan aktiviti
pertanian, bandar dan pelepasan domestik. Kajian ini menunjukkan bahawa teknik
kemometriks yang diaplikasikan ke atas taburan bahan pencemar organik terpilih mampu
mengesan punca pencemaran dalam air permukaan.
Kata kunci: kemometriks,
bahan pencemar organik, penanda kimia, Sungai Langat
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