PARENT SESSION
46 - Surface Water Pollution
8:00 AM to 6:30 PM, Tuesday, 14 May 2002
Exhibition Area

(46-39) Membrane enclosed sorptive coating (MESCO) -a novel integrative passive sampler for monitoring organic contaminants in water.

Vrana, Branislav^*,1, Popp, Peter¹, Paschke, Albrecht¹, Schüürmann, Gerrit¹, ¹ UFZ Centre for Environmental Research, Permoserstrasse 15, Leipzig, Germany

ABSTRACT- A novel passive sampler for monitoring persistent organic pollutants in aqueous environment that consists of a bar coated with poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) enclosed in a dialysis membrane bag has been developed. It combines the advantages of the time-integrative sampling approach with solventless preconcentration of organic solutes from aqueous matrices and subsequent desorption of the sequestered analytes on-line with a capillary GC-MS system. The performance of the sampler was tested for integrative sampling of hydrophobic organic pollutants including -hexachlorocyclohexane (-HCH), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), 2,2^,-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-1,1^,-dichloroethylene (DDE), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in laboratory in a continuous-flow system. Linear uptake of all test analytes during exposure periods up to one week has been observed and concentration proportionality of response of the sampler has been demonstrated. Over the range of controlled laboratory conditions the magnitude of sampling rate values varied from 47 to 700 L/h per sampler. The uptake rate of chemicals was dependent on their molecular mass, as well as on the partition coefficient between the PDMS and water. A decrease in sampling rates with decreasing water temperature was observed. The sampling device has the potential to detect low aqueous concentrations (ng to pg/L) of test substances.

Key words: passive sampler, monitoring, persistent organic pollutants, semipermeable membrane device