| Abstract: | Simple distillation was used to prepare aqueous environmental samples (especially those with high content of accompanying dissolved and suspended organic and inorganic matter) for determination of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX) by means of purge and trap (PT) coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The PT step was carried out with a laboratory-built device in which alalytes desorbed from a Primary trap (macrotrap) are focused in a microtrap (also with sorbent) and moisture is removed from purge gases by a Nafion tube (walls selectively permeable to water vapor). Recoveries, if only the first 10 ml distillate was collected, were of the order of 40% at optimum distillation parameters. At a probability level of 95% recoveries were independent of concentration in a studied concentration range of 0.50–30 ppb. Enrichment factors for distillation were of the order off 20. Real samples, i.e., raw and treated waste water were analyzedc for BTEX content by the developed medthod. |
