Methodology and Quality Assurance/Quality Control of Environmental Analysis - Fundamentals of Environmental Sampling and Analysis - page 114

Table 5.5 Selected emerging contaminants and their analytical methods

Emerging contaminant Analytical method

Disinfection by-products GC/MS, GC-ECD, LC/ESI-MS, IC, IC/APCI-MS,

IC/ICPMS

Pharmaceuticals and LC/MS, LC/MS/MS, SPME-GC/MS, GC/MS, SPE-

endocrine disrupting GC/MS/MS

compounds
Chiral contaminants Chiral GC/MS

Methyl tert-butyl ether GC/MS (EPA 8240B/60B), GC-FID (ASTM D4815)

Algal toxins LC/ESI-MS, LC/ESI-MS/MS, MALDI/TOF-MS

Organotins SPME-LC/ESI-MS, SPME-GC/MS, SPME-GC/ICPMS,

TOF-MS, GC/ICPMS

Perchlorate IC (EPA 314.0), ESI-MS, ESI-MS/MS

Natural organic matter ESI-MS, APCI-MS/MS, FT-ICR-MS, ESI-FI-ICR-MS

Acronyms: APCI¼atmospheric pressure chemical ionization; API¼atmospheric chemical
ionization; ECD¼electron capture detection; EI¼electron ionization; ESI¼electrospray ionization;
FT¼Fourier transform; GC¼gas chromatography; IC¼ ion chromatography; ICP¼ inductively
coupled plasma; ICR¼ion cydotron resonance; IR¼infrared spectroscopy; LC¼liquid chromato-
graphy; MALDI¼matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization; MS¼mass spectrometry; SPE¼solid-
phase extraction; SPME¼solid-phase microextraction; TOF¼time-of-flight.

discuss the principles of some of these instruments in Chapter 12. Readers
interested in the analysis of these emerging chemicals are referred to several
excellent review articles by Clement and Yang (2001) and Richardson (2001, 2002,
2003).

EXAMPLE 5.1. Selection of standard methods of the U.S. EPA and other agencies.
Briefly answer the following questions:

(a) Which EPA method you would use for the analysis of volatile solvents (e.g., trichlo-
roethene, chloroform, toluene) in groundwater samples at mg/L concentrations?
(b) Which EPA method you would use for the analysis of industrial wastewater sludge for
cadmium, mercury, and chromium to evaluate whether or not the sludges can be
disposed in a nonhazardous waste landfill?
(c) Which EPA method you would use for the analysis of semivolatile and nonvolatile
pesticides in wastewater from a manufacturing facility to evaluate whether the
wastewater is in compliance with the facility's discharge permit?
(d) Which method you would use for blood and urine samples of workers exposed
occupationally to lead?

SOLUTION: (a) EPA 624 method would be the method of choice as the analytes are volatile
organic compounds in groundwater. (b) SW-846 method would be preferred as the sample
matrix is sludge. In particular, because the purpose is to evaluate whether the sludge would
leach and pose hazardous, a TCLP (i.e., Method 1311) would be used to obtain the extract,
followed by the analysis using 6010B (ICP) or 6020 (ICP/MS) depending on the availability of