Interaction of 15 priority substances for water monitoring at ng L-1 levels with glass-, aluminium- and fluorinated polyethylene bottles for the containment of water reference materials

Certified water reference materials (CRMs) are currently not available for most of the hydrophobic organic pollutants listed in the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). To find the most suitable container type for subsequent reference material productions, feasibility studies for the preparation of waters with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and tributyltin (TBT) close to Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) in water have been performed. Due to the hydrophobic nature of these compounds and their tendency to adsorb onto container-walls, an adequate selection of the most appropriate material for containment, storage and transport of water reference materials is crucial. Three different materials (aluminium, amber glass and fluorinated polyethylene, FPE) and three volume ranges (500/600 mL, 1000/1200 mL and 2000/3000 mL) were tested at ng L-1 level of the target compounds. FPE shows by far the highest loss of analytes due to adsorption onto the container walls for all compounds studied. Aluminium and glass are equally suited for PAHs and PBDEs, but aluminium is unsuitable as container material for TBT due to acid cleaning requirements. The volume of the containers had no dramatic effect on the adsorption behaviour of target compounds for the different volumes tested.

ELORDUI-ZAPATARIETXE DEL AGUILA Saioa;  FETTIG Ina;  RICHTER Janine;  PHILIPP Rosemarie;  GANTOIS Fanny;  LALERE Beatrice;  SWART Claudia;  EMTEBORG Hakan; 

2016-01-07

SPRINGER

JRC94950

0949-1775,   

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC94950,   

10.1007/s00769-015-1150-3,