Simultaneous determination of total polychlorinated biphenyl and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) by dechlorination with Fe/Pd and Mg/Pd bimetallic particles and flame ionization detection gas chromatography

Simultaneous measurement of total dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT, technical mixture) and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB-Aroclors 1248 and 1260) is facilitated by quantitative dechlorination to diphenylethane and biphenyl. The two-stage dechlorination reaction utilizes a palladium catalyst deposited onto iron and magnesium particles. The treatment has the advantage of converting the complex chromatographic pattern that arises from the multiple congeners and degradation products of PCB and DDT into peaks corresponding to their representative hydrocarbon skeletons. The limit for quantitative measurement (LOQ) using this treatment and GC-FID analysis is 40 parts-per-billion (ppb, μg/l) for Aroclor 1260 and 100 ppb for DDT with a linear response extending to 100 times the LOQ. The calibration was successfully tested with triplicate water samples fortified at 15 (DDT) and 10 (Aroclor 1260) times the LOQ. Accuracy (mean percent) and precision (percent relative standard deviation) were 92% and 6.2% for DDT and 96% and 5.2% for Aroclor 1260. Accuracy and RSD for 35 ppm triplicate spiked soil samples were 76% and 18% for Aroclor 1260 and 68% and 26% for DDT. These results are comparable to the published single laboratory results for EPA method 8082 ‘Polychlorinated Biphenyls by Gas Chromatography’. However, the single laboratory results for EPA method 8081A ‘Organohalide Pesticides by Gas Chromatography,’ failed to resolve DDT and therefore could not be compared with this method.