Efficient solid-phase extraction procedures for trace enrichment of priority phenols from industrial effluents with...

Polymeric solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges and Speedisks were used to extract 17 phenols from HPLC-grade water, tap water, river water and industrial effluents. With SPE cartridges, recoveries between 60 and 120% were obtained for waters with a total organic carbon (TOC) content below 20 mg C/l. However, when extracting industrial effluent waters with higher TOC values (75 mg C/l), only the polar phenols were recovered from the water fraction. Nonpolar compounds (di-, tri- and tetrachlorophenols) remained attached to the particulate matter and were recovered from the 0.45-microm filter membrane disks by Soxhlet extraction. Speedisks offered a high efficiency and permitted one to extract phenols without a prior filtration step. Acceptable recoveries were obtained when processing heavily charged industrial effluents with a TOC of 505 mg C/l. Liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection was used for the routine determination of 17 priority phenols.