Simultaneous determination of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in groundwater by GC-FID after solid-phase extraction

Abstract

Groundwater contamination by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) may pose a risk to human health, as these compounds are considered to be highly toxic, carcinogenic and/or mutagenic and bioaccumulative. The aim of this study was to evaluate and determine PAH levels in groundwater samples collected from tubular wells in a city of northern Brazil by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID) used by the population for consumption. Sample pre-treatment using solid-phase extraction cartridges was performed in order to promote an enrichment of the PAH fraction of interest and to remove interferences from the matrix to further determine PAH in samples by GC-FID. The results obtained showed that all groundwater samples studied presented PAH levels lower than maximum values allowed by MS 2914/2011 and CONAMA 396/2008. The developed procedure is characterized by low limits of detection and quantification, equal to 0.024-0.113 µg L −1 and 0.079-0.378 μg L −1 , respectively, good linearity (r 2 > 0.99). The recoveries obtained for 16 PAH by the addition and recovery method ranged from 85.4 to 105.7% with good precision (RSD < 5.0%). The results of this study showed that the method developed is fast, accurate and robust with high efficiency for identification and determination of 16 PAH in groundwater samples.

A review of the occurrence, distribution, and impact of bitumen seeps on soil and groundwater in parts of southwestern Nigeria

“…The environmental impact of bitumen seeps in the Nigerian sector of the Dahomey basin has been the subject of recent studies, with the advent of calls for global environmental sustainability and the quest for cleaner exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbon resources. The cases of contaminant fallouts associated with known bitumen exploitation hubs around the globe (Carvalho et al, 2019 ; Harkness et al, 2018 ; Roy et al, 2016 ; Stasik et al, 2015 ; Sun et al, 2017 ) have prompted studies on the environmental impact of bitumen exploration in the Nigerian bitumen belt (Adedosu et al, 2021 ; Asubiojo & Adebiyi, 2011 , 2014 ). These studies have been able to ascertain the presence, type, and concentration of bitumen contaminants in the soil and water resources within the eastern flank of the Dahomey basin.…”

Development of an Online Instrument for Continuous Gaseous PAH Quantification: Laboratory Evaluation and Comparison with The Offline Reference UHPLC-Fluorescence Method

“…When PAH speciation is considered, many studies were carried out on the measurement of PAH in the air [13,23,24,26,[32][33][34] or water [35,36], but the vast majority used offline and non-automatic methods.…”

“…Some studies were already carried out with offline GC-FID PAH measurements for the analysis of water combined with SPME, SPE, or MSPE [35][36][37], soil samples after solidliquid extraction [38], or food samples after SPE extraction [39,40]. However, none have integrated an automatic and programmable sampling and extraction module, or portable instruments for in-situ measurements.…”

Feasibility of SERS-Active Porous Ag Substrates for the Effective Detection of Pyrene in Water

“…Currently, the most common strategies for revealing PAHs in water samples are based on the combination of ultra-high liquid chromatography (UHLC) with fluorescence/ultraviolet detection (FLD/UV) [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. In addition, gas chromatography coupled with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) or mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) is also used [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. These techniques offer high accuracy and sensitivity, even allowing the detection of concentrations on the order of ng/L.…”