Constantly stirred sorbent and continuous flow integrative sampler: new integrative samplers for the time weighted...

Two innovative integrative samplers have been developed enabling high sampling rates unaffected by turbulences (thus avoiding the use of performance reference compounds) and with negligible lag time values. The first, called the constantly stirred sorbent (CSS) consists of a rotator head that holds the sorbent. The rotation speed given to the head generates a constant turbulence around the sorbent making it independent of the external hydrodynamics. The second, called the continuous flow integrative sampler (CFIS) consists of a small peristaltic pump which produces a constant flow through a glass cell. The sorbent is located inside this cell. Although different sorbents can be used, poly(dimethylsiloxane) PDMS under the commercial twister format (typically used for stir bar sorptive extraction) was evaluated for the sampling of six polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and three organochlorine pesticides. These new devices have many analogies with passive samplers but cannot truly be defined as such since they need a small energy supply of around 0.5 W supplied by a battery. Sampling rates from 181 x 10(-3) to 791 x 10(-3) L/day were obtained with CSS and 18 x 10(-3) to 53 x 10(-3) with CFIS. Limits of detection for these devices are in the range from 0.3 to 544 pg/L with a precision below 20%. An in field evaluation for both devices was carried out for a 5 days sampling period in the outlet of a waste water treatment plant with comparable results to those obtained with a classical sampling method.