EPA Standard Method Research Articles

Total organic halogens (TOX) analysis in ether solutions

A new procedure to determine TOX (total organic halogens) recovered in ether extracts was developed as a modification of the EPA standard method for TOX analysis in aqueous solutions. A volume of sample was injected directly into the carbon in the pyrolysis furnace sample boat. Good recoveries (80–100%) were found for all the model compound solutions, except for the n-chloroalkanes. In this case, the molecules are long chain aliphatics and were not easily pyrolysed in the furnace. A linear correlation was found between the percentage recovery of these aliphatic compounds and the number of carbons in the molecule. The precision of the method was found to be 2–3% for TOX in the 10 3–10 5 ng injected range.