Development of a screening tool to prioritize testing for the carcinogenic hazard of residual aromatic extracts and related petroleum streams.

•The carcinogenic activity of petroleum-derived residual aromatic extracts (RAE) is proposed to be determined by distillation properties.•The carcinogenic moieties that may be present, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, distill in the front-end (lower-boiling) fractions of RAE.•Gas chromatographic distillation provides an effective method to measure the distillation of RAE and screen for potential carcinogenicity.•RAE should be non-carcinogenic if their 5% distillation point is equal to or greater than 479°C.