Combining Passive Sampling with a GC-MS-Database Screening Tool to Assess Trace Organic Contamination of Rivers: a Pilot Study in Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

This study assessed the suitability of passive sampler extracts for use with a GC-MS-database rapid screening technique for around 940 organic chemicals. Chemcatcher™ passive sampler systems containing either Empore™ SDB-XC or C18FF disks were deployed at 21 riverine sites in and near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, for a period of 28 days during SeptemberOctober 2008. Methanolic elution of the SDB-XC and C18FF disks produced an extract that, after evaporation and inversion into hexane, was compatible with the GC-MS-database method enabling over 30 chemicals to be observed. The sources of the non-agricultural chemicals are still unclear, but this study was conducted in a relatively dry season where total rainfall was approximately 40 % lower than the long-term mean for the catchment during the study period.

Passive Sampling with Active Carbon Fibres in the Determination of Organic Pollutants in Groundwater

“…Determining their concentration in groundwater is not practical or even feasible. In contrast to traditional organic pollutants, such as pesticides, aromatics, and halogenated solvents, recent research has focused on the detection of pharmaceuticals and other persistent chemicals in the environment [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. As a result, a broad range of organic compounds with very diverse physicochemical properties should be analysed using techniques that approach the limit of detection (LOD), not only to determine well-defined contamination clouds, but also to obtain a clear picture of pollution at very low concentrations, or even before the first relevant signs of pollution appear.…”

Broad spectrum screening of 463 organic contaminants in rivers in Macedonia

“…Commonly, when assessing organic substances, numerous analytical methods may have to be used to cover a large number of known compounds (Gómez et al, 2011), which can be rather costly and time-consuming. Therefore, to overcome those difficulties, new strategies and instrumentations are needed, which will be focused primarily on fast and simple preliminary screening of samples (Allinson et al, 2015), with the general aim to identify the most problematic contaminants, which will be further on individually monitored.…”

“…To meet arising requirements of developing science, industry and society, a rapid development in the field of pesticide and other organic compound analysis occurred, including the development of different mass spectrometry detectors (triple quadrupole, ion-trap, time-of-flight, quadrupole-time-offlight), as well as development of "ambient-ionization" mass spectrometry techniques (Botitsi et al, 2011). New screening methods were created that combine a mass-structure database with gas or liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry to create a system that can screen samples for large number of compounds and give reliable indication of the presence of specific trace organic chemicals in analyzed samples (Botitsi et al, 2011;Allinson et al, 2015;Guibal et al, 2015;Stipaničev et al, 2015). Such possibilities in the field of water analysis are provided by application of high resolution quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (QTOF-MS), which enables simultaneous quantitative determination of numerous target compounds, due to its sensitivity and selectivity in full scan analysis, as well as additional qualitative analysis of other compounds included in a mass spectral library (Guibal et al, 2015).…”