Volatiles Analysis

Accurate Quantitation Of Trace-Level Volatiles In Water

Volatiles are monitored in drinking water supplies by environmental regulators as build-ups of toxic organics, nitrosamines and other disinfection by-products (DBPs) can cause widespread damage. Accurate and reliable trace-level analyses are required that can be carried out efficiently for volatiles, with guideline volumes on both being common water protection requirements worldwide. Regulatory agencies set threshold limits for volatile organic compounds based on threat, toxicity, and target matrix. Contaminants of concern include chemicals used or produced in the manufacture of paints, adhesives, petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, and refrigerants. Compounds include fuels, solvents, hydraulic fluids, paint thinners, and dry-cleaning agents. Volatile contaminants are often analyzed via GC or GC/MS, but it can be difficult to guard against potentially costly and dangerous false positives. To meet this challenge we have developed the Inert Flow Path with components from injector to detector exhibiting reliable inertness.

Agilent's 7697A Headspace Sampler delivers accurate and reliable analysis of VOCs in water supplies in a GC/MS system. Unlike purge-and-trap methods, static headspace (HS) extraction is a direct approach for water analysis, as the instrument itself heats the vial to shift diffusion of VOCs into the sample headspace.

The revolutionary design of the high efficiency source (HES) produces a higher ion current yield for many compounds (greater sensitivity), which allows flexible approaches to sample analysis such as lowering detection limits, reducing sample size, speeding up analysis, and so forth. This setup, used in conjunction with Selected Ion Monitoring (SIM), delivers parts-per-trillion limits of detection for VOCs analysis by the 5977B GC/MSD.