Determination of anionic surfactants in tap water by HPLC-UV detection after solid-phase extraction

Abstract

A cartridge-type solid-phase extraction method for the determination of anionic surfactants, followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detector (HPLC-UV) is described. The HPLC-UV measurement method provides good linearity of the calibration curve as well as repeatability. The correlation coefficients of the calibration curve were estimated to be from 0.9989 to 0.9996 for anionic surfactants in the concentration range from 0.1 mg l−1 to 10 mg l−1. For anionic surfactants by HPLC-UV, the detection limits were calculated to be 0.031 mg l−1 for ABS analysis and 0.047 mg l−1 for synthetic detergent test for laundering, at which the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio was 3. Methanol was recommended for the elution of anionic surfactants from the cartridge-type solid-phase. The recoveries for anionic surfactants for ABS analysis from distilled water spiked at concentration of 1.0 ng ml−1 was 93.2%, and the relative standard deviations (RSD) was 6.3% by a cartridge-type solid-phase extraction method. This measurement method could be successfully applied to the determination of anionic surfactants in tap water.