MONITORING OF POLYNUCLEAR AROMATIC-HYDROCARBONS IN WATER .2. EXTRACTION AND RECOVERY OF 6 REPRESENTATIVE COMPOUNDS WITH POLYURETHANE FOAMS

Flexible polyurethane foam plugs effectively concentrated trace quantities of the six representatives of the poiynuciear family from large volumes of finished and raw waters when the water was heated to 62±2°C and passed through foam plugs at a flow rate of 250±10 mL/min. The retention efficiencies of the individual PAH on the foams were no less than 88% from finished water and 72% from raw water. The purification of the concentrate was achieved by solvent partitioning and column chromatography on Florisil. The recovery of PAH from the cleanup procedure varied between 90-100%. Thin-layer chromatography coupled with fluorometric detection was more sensitive and selective than gas-liquid chromatography-flame ionization detection. The technique described detected as low as 0.1 ng/L of an individual PAH. © 1978, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.