PARENT SESSION
1A Chemical, biological, and combined methods for the detection of pollutants
9:00 AM to 7:00 PM, Wednesday, 09 May 2001

(W/EH043) Determination of the hydrophobic part of extractable organic halogens (EOX) in wastewater.

Contreras, Concepción¹, Larsson, Kenneth², Sundstrand, Signar², ^{1 2}

ABSTRACT- Organic chlorine compounds can be persistent environmental contaminants and may be accumulated through the food chain to the aquatic organisms, to fish and humans. Consequently there is an interest to measure these organic compounds from both the scientific and regulatory communities. The analytical essays have been improved for measuring specific organic chlorine compounds that present the most toxicological potential (PCBs, certain pesticides and dioxins), although they are tedious and time consuming procedures. A new method, developed from the NEN 6402 method, has been proposed for determining the most hydrophobic part of the extractable organic halogens that can have the most bioaccumulating potential, in wastewaters. The lowest reported value is 0.6 g/l, expressed as chloride, and the relative standard deviation at 20 g/l is 7% on laboratory samples and 30% on real effluents. The proposed procedure is quick, cheap, and highly sensitive and can be an additional predictor of the environmental impact of wastewater from some industrial sectors.

Key words: organic chlorine compounds, bioaccumulation, methodology