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. 2019 Mar;26(8):7305-7314.
doi: 10.1007/s11356-018-1419-2. Epub 2018 Feb 28.

Evaluating gas chromatography with a halogen-specific detector for the determination of disinfection by-products in drinking water

Anna Andersson  1 , Muhammad Jamshaid Ashiq  1 , Mohammad Shoeb  1   2 , Susanne Karlsson  1 , David Bastviken  1 , Henrik Kylin  3   4
Affiliations

Evaluating gas chromatography with a halogen-specific detector for the determination of disinfection by-products in drinking water

Anna Andersson et al. Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2019 Mar.

Abstract

The occurrence of disinfection by-products (DBPs) in drinking water has become an issue of concern during the past decades. The DBPs pose health risks and are suspected to cause various cancer forms, be genotoxic, and have negative developmental effects. The vast chemical diversity of DBPs makes comprehensive monitoring challenging. Only few of the DBPs are regulated and included in analytical protocols. In this study, a method for simultaneous measurement of 20 DBPs from five different structural classes (both regulated and non-regulated) was investigated and further developed for 11 DBPs using solid-phase extraction and gas chromatography coupled with a halogen-specific detector (XSD). The XSD was highly selective towards halogenated DBPs, providing chromatograms with little noise. The method allowed detection down to 0.05 μg L-1 and showed promising results for the simultaneous determination of a range of neutral DBP classes. Compounds from two classes of emerging DBPs, more cytotoxic than the "traditional" regulated DBPs, were successfully determined using this method. However, haloacetic acids (HAAs) should be analyzed separately as some HAA methyl esters may degrade giving false positives of trihalomethanes (THMs). The method was tested on real water samples from two municipal waterworks where the target DBP concentrations were found below the regulatory limits of Sweden.

Keywords: Disinfection by-products; Drinking water; Haloacetic acids; Haloacetonitriles; Halogen-specific detector; Trihalomethanes.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
GC-XSD chromatogram of THMs (40 μg L−1) in Milli-Q water
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
GC-XSD chromatogram of an HAA standard (10 ng μL−1 of each) in MtBE. TBAA is not visible here as it was almost entirely converted to TBM. The HAAs marked with asterisks are regulated in many countries
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
GC-XSD chromatogram of neutral DBPs (20 μg L−1 of each) in Milli-Q water. The concentration of the internal standard (1,2-dibromopropane) was 50 μg L−1. The recovery standard (1-chlorodecane, 50 μg) was added to the sample vial just prior to injection
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
GC-XSD chromatogram of DBPs in tap water from Berggården
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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