EXTRACTION AND CONCENTRATION OF NONPOLAR ORGANIC TOXICANTS FROM EFFLUENTS USING SOLID-PHASE EXTRACTION

To control toxic pollutants in effluents, it is necessary first to identify the toxicants. To make identification possible it is desirable to isolate the toxicants from their effluent matrices and concentrate them. This article describes a simple method in which the nonpolar organic fraction of an effluent is concentrated into methanol. The methanol solution can be directly analyzed by GC‐MS and can also be diluted and tested for toxicity. Results from the laboratory where this method is being used show that in cases where the effluent toxicants were nonpolar organic compounds 60% of the effluent's toxicity was recovered in the methanol concentrate and the toxicants were identified by GC‐MS. Copyright © 1990 SETAC