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How are PAHs determined?

April 26, 2017PAHs

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How are PAHs determined?

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There are two common methods for the determination of PAHs in environmental samples. The first is high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using EPA methods 610 or 8310. In this method, a combination of UV and fluorescence detection is used to determine 16 common PAHs. This method can be somewhat problematic due to matrix interferences. In addition, there is no positive confirmation – identification is determined by retention time only. The second common environmental method for the determination of PAHs is EPA method 8270, which uses gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) in the full scan mode. This is a fairly routine method and provides absolute identification because of the availability of spectral libraries for compound confirmation. However, this method is not capable of achieving low enough detection limits for some applications. To overcome this disadvantage, the GC/MS can be operated in the Selected Ion Monitoring (SIM) mode. The instrument is programmed to collect