Determination of linear alkylbenzenesulfonates (LASs) in sewage sludge and carrots by capillary electrophoresis--UV detection.

A method based on capillary zone electrophoresis has been proposed in order to separate and determine four groups of linear alkylbenzenesulfonates in sewage sludge and carrots. The separation was carried out in a silica capillary of 50 cm x 75 microm at 25 kV using a sodium borate buffer solution of 100 mM which includes 40% of acetonitrile. The detection was made by UV-Vis diode array detector. Precision, accuracy, linearity, detection and quantification limits of the method were determined. Finally, the method was applied to analyse samples of sewage sludge from a wastewater depuration station in Crispijana (Alava, Spain) and carrots sown in soils spiked with this sludge. In this case, it is necessary to carry out an extraction step for its determination. The extraction was carried out by solid phase extraction with a C18 cartridge. The solid phase extraction (SPE) parameters were also optimized and the recoveries were calculated. Samples of sewage sludge were analysed weekly during two years and, in all cases, results under legal limits for their use in agriculture were obtained.

Determination of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes in soils by multiple headspace solid-phase microextraction.

Multiple headspace-solid phase microextraction (MHS-SPME) is a recently developed technique for the quantification of analytes in solid samples that avoids the matrix effect. This method implies several consecutive extractions from the same sample. In this way, the total area corresponding to complete extraction can be directly calculated as the sum of the areas of each individual extraction when the extraction is exhaustive, or through a mathematical equation when it is not exhaustive. In this paper, the quantitative determination of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene isomers (BTEX) in a certified soil (RTC-CRM304, LGC Promochem) and in a contaminated soil by multiple HS-SPME coupled to a gas chromatography-flame ionisation detector (GC-FID) is presented. BTEX extraction was carried out using soil suspensions in water at 30 degrees C with a 75 microm carboxen-polydimethylsiloxane (CAR-PDMS) fibre and calibration was carried out using aqueous BTEX solutions at 30 degrees C for 30 min with the same fibre. BTEX concentration was calculated by interpolating the total peak area found for the soils in the calibration graphs obtained from aqueous solutions. The toluene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene and m,p-xylene concentrations obtained were statistically equal to the certified values.

Evaluation of multiple solid-phase microextraction as a technique to remove the matrix effect in packaging analysis for determination of volatile organic compounds.

Multiple solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is an useful technique for the direct quantification of solid samples removing any matrix effect. The volatile organic compounds formed in the extrusion-coating process of multilayer packaging materials have already been quantified by multiple HS-SPME coupled to gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS) using volatile organic compound (VOC) solutions in hexadecane for calibration. In this article, water is proposed as solvent to prepare the calibration solutions because it provides a shorter calibration time, better linearity, better reproducibility, and lower detection limits than hexadecane. Besides, the extraction of VOCs from aqueous solutions is exhaustive and avoids the extrapolations needed to calculate the total peak areas, as they can be calculated as the sum of the individual areas of each extraction. Finally, it is checked whether the two solvents provide the same mean values for the total peak areas.

Headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry applied to quality control in multilayer-packaging manufacture.

A method based on headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry is proposed for the quality control of multilayer packaging and its manufacturing process. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are produced in the manufacturing process of the packaging. They can cause organoleptic problems or modify the properties of the packaging depending on the nature and the amount of the VOCs formed. The quantification using packaging samples with a known VOC concentration for the calibration is proposed in order to reduce the analysis time, and the method is validated using a statistical test. Finally, the method is applied to the determination of odour-responsible compounds in multilayer packaging samples obtained under different extrusion-coating conditions, i.e. type of extruder, type of polymer and extrusion speed.

Multiple headspace solid-phase microextraction for the quantitative determination of volatile organic compounds in multilayer packagings.

The theory of multiple headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and a method based on multiple HS-SPME for the quantitative determination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in packaging materials is presented. The method allows the direct analysis of solid samples without using organic solvents to extract analytes. Multiple headspace solid-phase microextraction is a stepwise method proposed to eliminate the influence of the sample matrix on the quantitative analysis of solid samples by HS-SPME. Different amounts of packaging and different volumes of standard solution were studied in order to remove a substantial quantity of analytes from the headspace at each extraction and obtain the theoretical exponential decay of the peak area of the four successive extractions and, thus, the total area was calculated from these four extractions. In addition, two fibres were compared: carboxen-polydimethylsiloxane (CAR-PDMS) and divinylbenzene-carboxen-polydimethylsiloxane (DVB-CAR-PDMS), as they showed differences in the linearity of the exponential decay with the number of extractions depending on the compound. The CAR-PDMS fibre was better for the VOCs with a low molecular mass, whereas the DVB-CAR-PDMS fibre was better for the VOCs with a high molecular mass. Finally, the method was characterised in terms of linearity, detection limit and reproducibility and applied to analyse four multilayer packaging samples with different VOCs contents.

Direct quantitation of volatile organic compounds in packaging materials by headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

The quantification of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in flexible multilayer packaging materials using headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) was studied. The analytes imclude 22 compounds such as aldehydes. ketones, carboxylic acids and hydrocarbons formed by thermooxidative degradation of polyethylene during the extrusion coating process in the manufacture of the packaging, and many of them are involved in the unpleasant and undesirable odour of these materials. External standard calibration using a solution of the analytes in an appropriate solvent was the first approach studied. Aqueous solutions of the analytes provided low reproducibility and the reduction of aldehydes to alcohols under the HS-SPME conditions. Hexadecane was chosen as the solvent since its polarity is similar to that of polyethylene and its volatility is lower than that of the analytes. However, hexadecane should be added to the sample before the analysis as it modifies the absorption capacity of the fibre. A 75-microm Carboxen-poly(dimethylsiloxane) fibre was used to extract the VOCs from the headspace above the packaging in a 15-ml sealed vial at 100 degrees C after 5 min of preincubation. The influence of the extraction time on the amount extracted was studied for a standard solution of the analytes in hexadecane, together with the influence of the volume of the standard solution and the amount of the sample placed in the vial. Standard addition and multiple HS-SPME were also studied as calibration methods and the results obtained in the quantitative analysis of a packaging material were compared.

Development of a headspace solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method for the identification of odour-causing volatile compounds in packaging materials.

A method for the identification of volatile organic compounds in packaging materials is presented in this study. These compounds are formed by thermooxidative degradation during the extrusion coating process in the manufacture of packaging. Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) was used as sample preparation technique prior to the determination of the volatile organic compounds by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The effects of extraction variables, such as the type of fibre, the incubation temperature, the pre-incubation time, the size of the vial and the extraction time on the amounts of the extracted volatile compounds were studied. The optimal conditions were found to be: carboxen-polydimethylsiloxane 75 microm fibre, 5 min of pre-incubation time, 100 degrees C of incubation temperature, 20-ml vial, and 15 min of extraction time. The chromatograms obtained by HS-SPME and static headspace extraction were compared in order to show that the HS-SPME method surpasses the static headspace method in terms of sensitivity. Twenty-five compounds were identified including carbonyl compounds (such as 3-methyl-butanal, 3-heptanone or octanal), carboxylic acids (such as pentanoic acid or hexanoic acid) known as odour causing compounds and hydrocarbons (such as decane, undecane or dodecane). Finally, the method was applied to different packaging samples (one odour-unacceptable, two odour-acceptable, and three odourless samples) and to the raw materials in order to find out the odour-responsible volatile organic compounds and their source.