New device for time-averaged measurement of volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

Contamination by volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the environment is an increasing concern since these compounds are harmful to ecosystems and even to human health. Actually, many of them are considered toxic and/or carcinogenic. The main sources of pollution come from very diffuse focal points such as industrial discharges, urban water and accidental spills as these compounds may be present in many products and processes (i.e., paints, fuels, petroleum products, raw materials, solvents, etc.) making their control difficult. The presence of these compounds in groundwater, influenced by discharges, leachate or effluents of WWTPs is especially problematic. In recent years, law has been increasingly restrictive with the emissions of these compounds. From an environmental point of view, the European Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) sets out some VOCs as priority substances. This binding directive sets guidelines to control compounds such as benzene, chloroform, and carbon tetrachloride to be at a very low level of concentration and with a very high frequency of analysis. The presence of VOCs in the various effluents is often highly variable and discontinuous since it depends on the variability of the sources of contamination. Therefore, in order to have complete information of the presence of these contaminants and to effectively take preventive measures, it is important to continuously control, requiring the development of new devices which obtain average concentrations over time. As of today, due to technical limitations, there are no devices on the market that allow continuous sampling of these compounds in an efficient way and to facilitate sufficient detection limits to meet the legal requirements which are capable of detecting very sporadic and of short duration discharges. LABAQUA has developed a device which consists of a small peristaltic pump controlled by an electronic board that governs its operation by pre-programming. A constant flow passes through a glass cell containing adsorbent material where the VOCs are retained. The adsorbent used, made in LABAQUA, is a mixture of alginic acid and activated carbon. Due to its high permeability it allows the passage and retention of THMs in a suitable way, thus solving many of the problems of other common adsorbents. Also, to avoid degradation of the adsorbent, it is wrapped in a low density polyethylene (LDPE) membrane. After a sampling period of between 1 and 14 days, the adsorbent is collected and analyzed in the laboratory to quantify the VOC average concentration. This device resolves some of the limitations of the classical sampling system (spot samples), since we will take into account the fluctuations in the concentration of VOCs by averaging the same over time. This study presents the results obtained by the device for quantifying the VOCs legislated in the Directive 2000/60/EC. We present the validation of linearity over time and the limits of quantification, as well as the results of sample rate (Rs) obtained for each compound. The results demonstrate the high robustness and high sensitivity of the device. In addition the system has been validated in real waste water samples, comparing the results obtained with this device with the values of classical spot sampling, obtaining excellent results.