RP3 Design, Sampling, Measurement and Design
Thursday, 17 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 6:30 PM in Exhibit Hall

(HUC-1117-745606) Fundamentals of the use of performance reference compounds (PRCs) in passive samplers.

Huckins, J¹, Booij, K², Cranor, W¹, Alvarez, D¹, Gale, R¹, Bartkow, M³, Robertson, G⁴, Clark, R¹, Stewart, R⁵, ¹ USGS, Columbia, MO, USA² Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Texel, The Netherlands³ National Centre for Environmental Toxicology, Coopers Plains, Qeensland, Australia⁴ US EPA, Las Vegas, NV, USA⁵ Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Richmond, VA, USA

ABSTRACT- PRCs are analytically non-interfering compounds with moderate- to relatively high-fugacities, which are added to passive samplers (e.g., the lipid of SPMDs) prior to deployment. The rate of PRC loss during an exposure can be used to estimate in situ sampling rates of the analytes (R_si) of interest. Estimates of R_si are possible because the PRC release rate constant (k_ep) is equal to the sampling rate of the PRC (R_sp; mLd^-1) divided by the sampler′s clearance capacity, where the clearance capacity is equal to the sampler′s equilibrium partition coefficient for the PRC (K_sp) times the sampler′s volume (V_s; mL). Although PRCs have been used for over a decade, there is very little information available about PRCs relative to: the appropriate numbers of chemicals and the K_ow range of candidate PRCs to employ, the applicability of the approach to field situations and different samplers, the effects of sampling media on the selection of PRCs, the analytical methods required for their quantification, the approaches for calculating sampling rates using PRCs, and the limitations of the technique. In this work, these issues are discussed in detail and general guidelines are recommended for using the PRC approach. Also, the types of calibration data (e.g., K_si) needed for the extrapolation of ambient concentrations of target compounds from their concentrations in a sampler are elucidated. Finally, a method is proposed to extend the PRC approach to integrative samplers such as the polar organic chemical integrative sampler, where uptake and release curves are likely anisotropic.

Key words: passive sampling, PRCs, SPMDs, considerations