Application of solid phase extraction (SPE) coupled to dispersive liquid–liquid micro-extraction (DLLME) and sensory evaluation technique for the study of taste and odor active compounds in water

Abstract

Abstract Short-chain carbonyls could cause taste and odor issues in drinking water due to their very low odour threshold concentrations (OTCs). Several techniques such as 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) derivatization-HPLC and solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME) have been applied for trace short-chain aldehydes analysis in water. However, to study the taste and odor contributors in drinking water, it would be helpful to obtain an extract with representative odor from water samples for further studies, such as GC-olfactometry analysis or sensory test. Therefore, the above techniques still have some constraints due to the derivatization process or complex operating procedures. In this work, we developed a solid-phase extraction (SPE) coupled to dispersive liquid–liquid micro-extraction (DLLME) method to study short-chain aldehydes in ozonated water samples (LOQ = 1 ppb, RSD% = 12–45%). This method enables us to obtain an extract with representative odor from water for further volatile components analysis and sensory evaluation. Pair-wise nose clip sensory evaluation on the taste and odor of ozonated water indicated a high correlation between odor and taste of ozonated water. The SPE-DLLME method enabled a reliable study, for the first time, on correlations of volatile carbonyls and taste & odor performance for ozonated water by applying a series of statistical models.