Sample preparation by small solid-phase extraction membrane for determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in water

Abstract

A small disk extraction method (I.D. 13 mm) was developed for determination of 16 PAHs, EPA priority pollutants, from water samples. It was cost-effective, time-saving, and non-toxic method. Factors affecting the recoveries of PAHs such as solubilizer concentration, volume of eluting solvent, elution time, and breakthrough volume were studied. The presence of 0.30 mM Briji-35 was most appropriate for the enrichment of PAHs on C18 disk. Elution with 0.50 mL acetonitrile gave the high recoveries and the recoveries did not change significantly after 15 min of elution. Optimum solution volume was 100 mL. The method detection limit was found to range from less than 0.01 ppb to 0.20 ppb. The recoveries varied from 72.88 to 117.12% with percent relative standard deviation (% R.S.D.) between 1.96 and 2.82% except Anthracene was 55.09% recovery. Percent error of this method were in the range of 0.65-9.58%. Moreover, this extraction method was applied to determine PAHs in real water samples.