ARE THERE EMERGING ORGANIC POLLUTANTS IN YOUR WASTEWATER? AN INEXPENSIVE WAY TO FIND OUT

Trace organic compounds in water are often environmentally significant but difficult to detect. Therefore, water samples are typically concentrated before analysis. Conventional concentration methods can account for two thirds of the total length of time of the analytical procedure and are often the rate-limiting step for the analysis of organic compounds in water. Therefore, methods capable of screening samples for the presence of target compounds are useful for reserving timeconsuming, expensive, quantitative analyses for samples where the presence of the target compounds has been confirmed. In this research, an inexpensive method using thin layer chromatography (TLC) plates was developed to screen organic compounds in water. The materials for the sampler developed here cost 1.60 each. A variety of organic compounds (estrone, estradiol, estriol, 17-α ethynylestradiol, ibuprofen, diazinon, chlorpyrifos, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), and caffeine) were evaluated using the TLC passive sampling method followed by analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. Laboratory adsorption experiments were useful for defining field exposure periods and field applications in natural and engineered systems supported the utility of the TLC passive sampling method.