Large groups of Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) & Semi-Volatile organic compounds (sVOCs) have been found to be harmful to the environment as well as toxic to humans and are monitored in both drinking water and wastewater supplies by environmental regulators. Due to their diversity and widespread use, VOCs & sVOCs can occur from a variety of products such as paints and hydraulic fluids to dry-cleaning products and refridgerants as well as petroleum based products and gasoline. VOCs comprise a large and disparate list of compounds that include more common compounds such as aldehydes, ketones, halogenated compounds as well as several other potentially harmful compounds.sVOCs comprises of a broad number of priority pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), nitro-aromatics . Many are considered potentially carcinogenic, mutagenic, and disruptive to human health.
Accurate, reliable and efficient trace-level analyses of VOCs & sVOCs are required. Regulatory agencies set the threshold limits based on threat, toxicity, and target matrix. While contaminants are often analyzed via GC or GC/MS, it can be difficult to guard against potentially costly and dangerous false positives. To meet this challenge, Agilent developed the Inert Flow Path for GC analysis.
Agilent’s 7697A Headspace Sampler, when coupled with the market leading 8890 GC and 5977B Mass Spectrometer, delivers accurate and reliable analysis of VOCs & sVOCs in water. Purge & Trap techniques, that are supported by Agilent, is another way to analyze regulated VOCs in water using GC-MS.
