Determination of VOCs in groundwater at an industrial contamination site using a homemade low-density polyethylene passive diffusion sampler

Abstract

A home-made inexpensive passive diffusion bag (PDB) sampler, prepared by filling deionized water in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) tubes, was evaluated for volatile organic compounds (VOC) sampling in groundwater at industrial contamination sites. Impacts of environmentally relevant conditions on the sampling equilibration time and partitioning of VOCs between the sampler and the water sample were investigated. Sample salinity, agitation and temperature can influence the equilibration time, but generally sampling equilibration was obtained in 14 days under real field sampling of VOCs in groundwater. Both laboratory study and field testing in a contaminated site showed that the VOC concentrations in the developed sampler were equal to those in the water samples at equilibrium. Coupled with a purge and trap concentrator-gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (P&T-GC-MS), the developed PDB sampler provided a low-cost sampling device for routine monitoring of VOCs in groundwater in wells, with LODs in the range of 2.9–10 μg/L. The proposed PDB was applied to determine VOCs in groundwater at an industrial contamination site, and the present results agreed well with those determined using conventional pump-and-sample monitoring. All the studied 13 VOCs were tested in the four wells in the industrial contamination sites, with their concentrations in the range of 12–73660 μg/L. In addition, while benzene and toluene were heavily contaminated up to a maximum concentration of 74000 μg/L and 6000 μg/L, respectively, 1,2,3-trichlorobenzene and bromobenzene had relatively low contamination levels (below 25 μg/L).