The Practicality (Necessity) of Use of Clean-Up Techniques for the Analysis of D/F and PCB Congeners

New Environmental Monitoring Techniques for Organics
Oral Presentation

Prepared by C. Neslund
Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories Environmental, LLC, 2425 New Holland Pike, Lancaster, PA, 17601, United States


Contact Information: [email protected]; 717-556-7231


ABSTRACT

Methods for the analysis of PBT classes of compounds like dioxins/furans (D/F) and PCB congeners all present a laundry list of "possible" clean-up techniques to be employed by the analytical laboratory. These various treatments may or may not seem necessary based on the specific matrix involved. Rarely is it seen as practical or cost effective to perform all clean-ups on all matrices. However, we can find many examples where the minimum amount of clean-up had significant impact on the quality and usability of the data that was generated. This presentation and discussion will review many of the clean-up methodologies, the chemistry and purpose of that particular clean-up and implications to the data quality when the clean-up is omitted. Case studies involving environmental samples will be used to demonstrate the effect.