Determination of VOC’s in aqueous samples by using Purge & Trap – GCMSD
The regulatory governing the controls and the legal limits for the analysis of volatile organicncompounds (VOC’s) in water and soil are becoming more and more stringent. In particular the Italian DLGS 152/2006 and upgrades set the detection limits for some compounds, in the order of 1 ppt.
Typically, these analyses met EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) methods guidelines.
In particular, EPA method 8260 requires the use of the GC-MS as separation-detection technique, and EPA method 5030 for the Purge & Trap extraction technique.
The addition of a cryofocusing step, after the concentration of the sample through the P&T technique, is often used in order to achieve the above limits.
Cryofocusing involves the use of liquid nitrogen, which is expensive and not easily handled.
The goal of this work is to achieve the limit of 1 ppt, for the compounds 1,2-Dibromoethane and 1,2,3-trichloropropane in aqueous matrices avoiding the Cryofocusing step.