A continuous liquid‐liquid extraction system coupled on‐line with capillary gas chromatography for environmental and ecotoxicological analysis

Abstract

The applicability of a liquid-liquid extraction system which is coupled on-line with a capillary gas chromatograph was studied for environmental and ecotoxicological analyses. The optimized and automated system was used for the determination of apolar and rather non-volatile organic compounds in aqueous samples. Relevant aspects of sample introduction, phase separation and selection of extraction solvent are discussed. Three routine-tipe applications are described, viz. an improved method for the determination of hexachlorocyclohexanes in ground water and the determination of the so-called NCC-ether and ACC-ether in ecotoxicological studies. Depending on the application studied, the concentration levels varied from 0.1 to 6000 μg/I, using ECD and/or FID detection. Typical coefficients of variation obtained with the total extraction–GC procedure were 2–25%.The system was found to be rugged, it saves time compared with set-ups involving off-line liquid-liquid extraction and considerably reduces the manual work load.