Diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT) for in situ sampling of selected endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in waters

Abstract

A passive water sampler based on the diffusive gradients in thin-films (DGT) technique was developed and tested for 3 groups of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs, including oestrogens, alkyl-phenols and bisphenols). Three different resins (hydrophilic-lipophilic-balanced (HLB), XAD18 and Strata-XL-A (SXLA)) were investigated for their suitability as the binding phase for DGT devices. Laboratory tests across a range of pH (3.5-9.5), ionic strength (0.001-0.5 M) and dissolved organic matter concentration (0-20 mg L) showed HLB and XAD18-DGT devices were more stable compared to SXLA-DGT. HLB-DGT and XAD18-DGT accumulated test chemicals with time consistent with theoretical predictions, while SXLA-DGT accumulated reduced amounts of chemical. DGT performance was also compared in field deployments up to 28 days, alongside conventional active sampling at a wastewater treatment plant. Uptake was linear to the samplers over 18 days, and then began to plateau/decline, indicating the maximum deployment time in those conditions. Concentrations provided by the DGT samplers compared well with those provided by auto-samplers. DGT integrated concentrations over the deployment period in a way that grab-sampling cannot. The advantages of the DGT sampler over active sampling include: low cost, ease of simultaneous multi-site deployment, in situ analyte pre-concentration and reduction of matrix interferences compared with conventional methods. Compared to other passive sampler designs, DGT uptake is independent of flow rate and therefore allows direct derivation of field concentrations from measured compound diffusion coefficients. This passive DGT sampler therefore constitutes a viable and attractive alternative to conventional grab and active water sampling for routine monitoring of selected EDCs.

Development and Application of the Diffusive Gradients in Thin-Films Technique for Measuring Psychiatric Pharmaceuticals in Natural Waters

“…DGT has a good ability to perform in field. 16,39 Concentrations measured by HLB- pharmaceuticals. This approach has recently been developed for the pesticide atrazine and its breakdown products.…”

Passive sampling of organic contaminants across the water-sediment interface of an urban stream

“…PSs virtually unaffected by hydrodynamics due to thick uptake limiting barriers are ceramic dosimeters (Bopp et al, 2005) and DGT for nutrients and trace metals (Davison and Zhang, 1994). More recent developments are DGT for organics (o-DGT) (Challis et al, 2016;Chen et al, 2014Chen et al, , 2013Chen et al, , 2012Chen et al, , 2018Chen et al, , 2017Guan et al, 2018;Guibal et al, 2017;Guo et al, 2017;Xie et al, 2018aXie et al, , 2018bZhang ` 5 et al, 1998) and a ceramic dosimeter for polar organics (Cristale et al, 2013). Although the use of such PSs might eliminate the need for calibration, uptake by these PSs is significantly reduced.…”

Evaluating the toxic potential of agrochemicals on the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐thyroid axis in tilapia(Oreochromis mossambicus)

“…Over the past 20 years, the potency of endocrine‐disrupting chemicals (EDCs) has attracted attention in numerous ecotoxicological studies and has remained an active topic in contemporary ecotoxicology due to their proven environmental impacts (Chen et al, ; Schug et al, ; Wang et al, ; Zhou, et al, ). So far, the main focus of EDCs was clearly on the effects on reproductive biology (Ankley, Bencic, Breen, et al, ; Ankley, Bencic, Cavallin, et al, ; Huang, Wang, Zhang, & Wu, ).…”