TY - JOUR A1 - Becker, Roland A1 - Dorgerloh, Ute A1 - Theißen, H. A1 - Nehls, Irene T1 - Stabilisation of groundwater samples for the quantification of organic trace pollutants T2 - Environmental science : processes & impacts N2 - The concentration of contaminants in groundwater samples can be decreased by degradation in the time course between field sampling and quantification in the laboratory, especially in samples from sites where degradation activity is enhanced by remediation measures. The sampling sites covered a variety of priority organic pollutants such as volatile aromatic and chlorinated compounds, phenols and petroleum hydrocarbons and different remediation strategies such as anaerobic and aerobic microbial in situ degradation, in situ chemical oxidation, and on-site purification with biological treatment. The stability of the contaminants' concentration was investigated over a time range of several hours without cooling in the autosampler of the analytical equipment (short term) and over several days of storage until analysis (long term). A number of stabilisation techniques suggested in international standards ISO 5667-3:2013 and ASTM D6517:2000 were compared both with regard to short term and long term stabilisation of the contaminants and their practicability for field sampling campaigns. Long term storage turned out to be problematic for most compound groups even under cooling. Short term stability was problematic also for volatiles such as benzenic aromates, naphthalene and volatile organic halogenated compounds to be analysed by headspace gas chromatography. Acidification (pH <2) was sufficient to prevent degradation of benzenic aromates, naphthalene, phenols and petrol hydrocarbons for up to seven days. The use of acids was not applicable to stabilise volatiles in waters rich in carbonates and sulphides due to stripping of the volatiles with the liberated gases. The addition of sodium azide was successfully used for stabilisation of volatile organic halogenated compounds. PB - RSC Publ. CY - CambridgeRSC Publ. KW - Groundwater KW - Sampling KW - Organic pollutants KW - Stabilisation KW - Analysis PY - 2013 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-bam/frontdoor/index/index/docId/29689 AN - OPUS4-29689 SN - 2050-7887 SN - 2050-7895 VL - 15 IS - 12 SP - 2329 EP - 2337 AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany