Measurement of fluorotelomer alcohols based on solid phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and its application in solid waste study.

ABSTRACT

This work developed a method based on solid phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (SPME-GC/MS) for the measurement of fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) in gas samples. The method quantification limit (MQL) is 6-7 ng/L for 62 fluorotelomer alcohols (62 FTOH) and 82 fluorotelomer alcohols (82 FTOH). In contrast to common methods such as thermal desorption combined with GC-MS, it needs neither pre-concentration equipment nor large sample volume. The extraction-evaporation-GC/MS is commonly used in literature for FTOHs measurement in solids samples. We developed a method to measure FTOHs in solid samples by adding solvent extraction prior to headspace SPME-GC/MS. The extraction-headspace SPME-GC/MS method has a quantification limit of 40-43 ng per gram for 62 FTOH and 82 FTOH in solid samples. This is comparable to the MQLs for the extraction-evaporation-GC/MS method. Removing the solvent evaporation step decreased the risk of contamination and loss of analytes. The developed methods were successfully used in three examples of solid waste study 1) measuring 62 FTOH and 82 FTOH above the MQL in gas emissions from a closed landfill, 2) finding 62 FTOH above MQL in 9 of 31 solid consumer products, and 3) finding that the release of 62 FTOH in simulated landfills containing popcorn bags was linear at a rate of 3.15 ng/g popcorn bags-day and that partial 62 FTOH was from the hydrolysis of precursors.