Chemical Fingerprinting of Dioxins/Furans

3TM Consulting completed a chemical fingerprinting project in support of a forensic investigation.

Forensic chemical fingerprinting was used in two modes, that is, “ruling in” chemical patterns and “ruling out” chemical patterns. The logic of this can be summarized thusly: the Dioxins/Furans found in a particular environmental sample (e.g., soil, household dust, ambient air) came from some source(s), and the source is either “ruled in” in terms of association with an assumed source, or “ruled out” in terms of association with other possible sources.

“Ruling in” was accomplished by comparing the congener patterns of the Dioxins/Furans found in the environmental samples with known sources of Dioxins/Furans. To do this, 3TM compared the congener patterns of the Dioxins/Furans found in the household attic dust samples and ambient air quality samples with the congener patterns found in neat Pentachlorophenol. Comparison was also made with published data on Dioxin/Furan congener patterns associated with Pentachlorophenol, for purposes of establishing forensic chemical fingerprinting.

“Ruling out” was accomplished by comparing the congener patterns of the Dioxins/Furans found in the environmental samples with other possible (i.e., confounder) sources of Dioxins/Furans, such as trash burning, cigarette smoking, automobile exhaust, other industrial sources, etc. To do this, 3TM compared the congener patterns of the Dioxins/Furans found in the household attic dust samples and ambient air quality samples with the congeners found in these other possible sources.