Passive sampling combined with ecotoxicological and chemical analysis of pharmaceuticals and biocides -evaluation of three chemcatcher~(TM) configurations

摘要

in the aquatic environment. We investigated the duration of integrative sampling and the effects of flow rate on the performance of three configurations of the Chemcatcher -a sampler for polar organic compounds. Chemcatchers were fitted with Empore™ styr-enedivinylbenzene (SDB) XC disks (XC), SDB-RPS disks (RPS) or SDB-RPS disks covered with a polyethersulfone membrane (RPS-PES). Samplers were either exposed to treated sewage effluent for 5 days at various flow rates, or at a single flow rate with overlapping exposures of 3-24 days. Chemical analysis focused on a set of pharmaceuticals and biocides and ecotoxicological analysis measured inhibition of photosystem II in algae. For compounds with log Kow > 2, both XC and RPS disks respond dynamically to higher flow rates; uptake increased up to five-fold when flow increased from 0.03 to 0.37 ms~(-1). At a flow rate of 0.13 ms~(-1) the integrative window of SDB disks approached 6 days for more hydrophobic compounds (logKow> 3.5). The RPS-PES configuration was less affected by flow and also showed an extended integrative window (up to 24 days). The membrane causes a lag phase of up to 2.3 days which thwarts a sound interpretation of data from sampling periods of less than 10 days.