NWIP - Determination of OCP and PCB in soils and sediments
- Organochlorine pesticides (OCP) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) are two classes of organic synthetic substances which are globally used. The vast majority of OCP have been released directly in the environment as agricultural insecticides but they have been also used as byproducts for different applications e.g. wood preserver. PCB have been widely used as additives in industrial applications where chemical stability has been required. OCP and PCB are persistent, bioaccumulating and prone to long-range atmosheric transport and deposition. They are ubiquitous in the environment (water, soil, sediment and waste) and their presence is regularly monitored and controlled.
At present determination of OCP and PCB is carried out in these matrices in most of the routine laboratories following the preceding steps for sampling, pre-treatment, extraction, clean-up by measurement of specific OCP and PCB by means of gas chromatography in combination with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MS) orOrganochlorine pesticides (OCP) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) are two classes of organic synthetic substances which are globally used. The vast majority of OCP have been released directly in the environment as agricultural insecticides but they have been also used as byproducts for different applications e.g. wood preserver. PCB have been widely used as additives in industrial applications where chemical stability has been required. OCP and PCB are persistent, bioaccumulating and prone to long-range atmosheric transport and deposition. They are ubiquitous in the environment (water, soil, sediment and waste) and their presence is regularly monitored and controlled.
At present determination of OCP and PCB is carried out in these matrices in most of the routine laboratories following the preceding steps for sampling, pre-treatment, extraction, clean-up by measurement of specific OCP and PCB by means of gas chromatography in combination with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MS) or gas chromatography with electron capture detector (GC-ECD).
Considered the different matrices and possible interfering compounds, this draft International Standard does not contain one single possible way of working. Several choices are possible, in particular relating to clean-up. Detection with both Mass Spectrometry and Electron Capture is possible. Three different extraction procedures and nine clean-up procedures are described. The use of internal and injection standards is described in order to have an internal check on choice of the extraction and clean-up procedure.…