A Fast and Robust Third-Order Multivariate Calibration Approach Coupled with Excitation–Emission Matrix Phosphorescence for the Quantification and Oxidation Kinetic Study of Fluorene in Wastewater Samples

Abstract

Human activity today produces a large number of pollutants that end up in the environment, such as soil, water, and airborne particles. The first objective of this work is to introduce a new third-order multivariate calibration approach called self-weighted alternating quadrilinear decomposition (SWAQLD) for the analysis of organic pollutant of fluorene (FLU) in different water systems. One simulated and two real four-way data sets are used to study the potential of the proposed approach in comparison with two classical algorithms, namely alternating quadrilinear decomposition (AQLD) and parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). The results of simulated data show that SWAQLD inherits the advantages of PARAFAC in terms of not only tolerance to experimental noise but also a fast convergence and a certain robustness to overestimation of the rank of the models from AQLD. The second objective of this work is to propose a new way of generating third-order data using excitation–emission matrix phosphorescence (EEMP) at room temperature for the study of the kinetic process of oxidation of FLU in complex chemical systems. The obtained rate constant and half-life of the FLU oxidation, on average, are 0.015 min−1 and 45.5 min for free-interference water and 0.017 min−1 and 40.0 min for wastewater, respectively. Research results show that SWAQLD coupled with EEMP allows the quantification and kinetic monitoring of FLU in analytical conditions of different complexities with excellent robustness to the choice of the number of model components.