Determination of VOC contamination in borehole sediments by headspace-SPME-GC analysis

VOC contaminants in sediments can be transferred to water by simply shaking water/sediment mixtures until an equilibrium distribution has been reached. The VOC components can then be analysed by solid phase microextraction (SPME) from the headspace of the water phase. Equilibration between equal amounts of sediments and increasing volumes of water allows to use the measured concentrations in the aqueous phase for the calculation of the concentrations in the sediment, without applying standards.