Abstract
Passive sampling is a powerful technique for the sampling hydrophobic organic contaminants present at trace level in water. A robust application of performance reference compounds (PRCs) for the estimation of in situ sampling rates, requires that dissipation of PRC and uptake of target compounds follow the same processes, i.e. the existence of isotropic exchange between the sampler and water. We report circumstantial evidence that in the presence of heavy fouling of samplers by suspended particulate matter (SPM) when deployed in a freshwater environment, SPM deposited on the surface of the sampler enhances the release of PRCs and reduces the uptake of target compounds. In this case, anisotropy of exchange resulted in on average a factor of 3.9 difference in estimate freely dissolved concentration in water.
Highlights
Passive sampling is a technique that is increasingly being used for the monitoring of trace contaminants levels in water because it enables us to obtain time-integrated data, information on contaminant speciation and ultra-low limits of detection (Booij et al, 2015; Harman et al, 2012; Miege et al, 2015; Lohmann et al, 2017)
The dissipation of performance reference compounds from silicone rubber samplers was used to estimate in situ contaminant exchange rates between samplers and the water they were exposed to using Equations (1) and (2)
For all concomitant exposures in the three rivers, samplers were from the same preparation batch and initial performance reference compounds (PRCs) concentrations were obtained by averaging all field blanks from a same batch and gas chromatograph (GC) run
Summary
Passive sampling is a technique that is increasingly being used for the monitoring of trace contaminants levels in water because it enables us to obtain time-integrated data, information on contaminant speciation and ultra-low limits of detection (Booij et al, 2015; Harman et al, 2012; Miege et al, 2015; Lohmann et al, 2017). For absorption-based passive sampling devices, performance reference compounds (PRCs) have long been used to estimate in-situ the kinetics of exchange of non-polar organic contaminants between water and sampler during deployment (Booij et al, 1998). There has been no evidence that the PRC technique is not able to provide accurate estimate of the in-situ uptake of target contaminants under specific environmental conditions in water. Levels of fouling were estimated by weighing the samplers upon retrieval
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