Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2003NJ43B

Development of Supported Liquid Membrane Micro-Extraction (SLMME) followed by Ion-Pair Chromatography (IPC) for analysis of halo-acetic acids (HAAs) and chlorinated acid herbicides (CAHs) in water

Institute: New Jersey
Year Established: 2003 Start Date: 2003-03-01 End Date: 2004-03-01
Total Federal Funds: $2,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $5,775

Principal Investigators: Xiaoyan Wang, Somenath Mitra

Project Summary: Chlorination is the most common method of disinfecting drinking water, however, it reacts with naturally occurring humic and fulvic acids to form halogenated organic compoinds, which are referred as the disinfection byproducts (DBPs), many of which are known or suspected carinogens. Halo-acetic Acids (HAAs) are nonvolatile DBPs and analysis by the three USEPA approved mehtods for HAAs analysis involve cumbersome liquid-liquid estraction and derivatization, followed by GC/ECD detection. Due to limitations of EPA methods, alternative methods that do not need derivatization prior to analysis have been developed recently. The objective of this study is to develop Supplorted Liquid Membrane Micro-Extraction (SLMME) for the analysis of halo-acetic acids and chlorinated acid herbicides in drinking water, surface water, and ground water. This technique is fast, simple, can be automated, and is eco-friendly, i.e. it uses minimum amount of solvent/chemicals. Research so far indicate the technique provides high enrichment factors at short analysis times (minutes) and the liquid membrane is inexpensive and easy to make. One goal of this research is to optimize SLMME and expand its capacities to analyze chlorinated acid herbicides as well as HAAs. Another goal is to develop an on-line monitoring system for HAAs and CAHs.