| Abstract Title: | Surpassing Detection Limits for Contaminants in Water Using EPA Method 525.2 via GC/MS |
| Presenter Name: | Trevor Frost |
| Company/Organisation: | LECO UK |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
Abstract Information :
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) Method 525.2 can be applied for the determination of organic compounds in drinking water, or water in any phase of the drinking water process from source to tap, by liquid-solid extraction and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. In this study, EPA Method 525.2 was applied to determine limits of detection for organic compounds, namely pesticides and polyaromtaic hydrocarbons, in water extracts cleaned-up using EPA Method 525.2, analyzed in replicate by GC-ToFMS. More than 70% of the compounds analyzed had a statistically derived detection limit less than 0.001 ppm in the water extract. A river water sample that contributes to source drinking water was also analyzed and compounds including pyrene, atrazine, metolachlor, aldrin, and dimethyl- and diethylphthalate were detected and quantified at concentrations between 0.001 ppm and 0.1 ppm. The typical quantitation range for EPA Method 525.2 is from 0.1 to 10 ppm, so this proven detection capability exceeds the method requirements and presents the possibility of using split injections to increase inlet uptime and overall method robustness.
