Sampling and Laboratory Analysis for Solvent Stabilizers - Environmental Investigation and Remediation - page 215

TABLE 4.6
Recommended Columns for EPA Method 8015B

Column
Length

Column Film
Thickness (μm) Column ID Column Material

8 feet 2.54 mm (0.1 inch) Stainless steel or glass packed, 1% SP-1000 on Carbopack-B

60/80 mesh

—

6 feet 2.54 mm (0.1 inch) Stainless steel or glass column packed with n -octane on

Porasil-C 100/120 mesh (Durapak)

—

30 m 0.53 mm Fused-silica capillary column bonded with DB-Wax

(or equivalent)

1

30 m 0.53 mm Fused-silica capillary column chemically bonded with 5%

methyl silicone (DB-5, SPB-5, RTx, or equivalent)

1.5

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), 1996a, Method 8015B: Non-halogenated organics using GC/FID.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

4.5.2 E NVIRONMENTAL P ROTECTION A GENCY M ETHOD 8260B
Method 8260B is a method that uses GC-MS and can therefore achieve lower detection lim-
its for 1,4-dioxane than EPA Method 8015B (FID, i.e., GC-FID). For 1,4-dioxane by 8260B,
recommended sample-preparation methods include EPA Methods 5031 and 5032, that is, azeo-
tropic microdistillation and vacuum extraction, respectively. For most of the 107 compounds on
the EPA Method 8260B analyte list, the estimated quantitation limit for groundwater samples is
5 g/L. If azeotropic microdistillation is used for sample preparation and if 1,4-dioxane-d 8 is

used as an internal standard, the general reporting limit for 1,4-dioxane by EPA Method 8260B
is 12

μ

g/L (USEPA, 1996b). In practice, 1,4-dioxane reporting limits by EPA Method 8260B are
typically in the 70

μ

g/L range (Lancaster Laboratories, 2004). Some laboratories provide an
8260B analysis for 1,4-dioxane with SIM, which improves the detection limit of the method. For
example, commercial laboratories using 8260B-SIM with a heated PT can achieve an MDL of
0.5

μ

μ g/L (Lancaster Laboratories, 2004) and a reporting limit of 1 μ g/L (Curtis and Tomkins

Laboratory, 2006).
The chromatographic columns recommended for EPA Method 8260 are listed in Table 4.7.

TABLE 4.7
Recommended Columns for EPA Method 8015B

Column
Length (m)

Column Film
Thickness (μm) Column ID (mm) Column Material

60 0.75 Capillary column coated with VOCOL (Supelco) 1.5

75 0.53 Capillary column coated with DB-624 (J&W Scientii c),

Rt-502.2 (RESTEK), or VOCOL (Supelco)

3.0

30 0.25-0.32 Capillary column coated with 95% dimethyl—5% diphenyl

polysiloxane (DB-5, Rt-5, SPB-5, or equivalent)

1.0

60 0.32 Capillary column coated with DB-624 (J&W Scientii c) 1.8

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), 1996b, Method 8260b: Volatile organic compounds by gas
chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.