The main goal of this Phase I SBIR proposal is to demonstrate the feasibility of developing an automated method that can be used in the field to identify and quantify polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs) present in solid materials felt gasket, faying material, paint, electric power cable insulation and many rubber products. Solid Phase Microextraction (SPME) has been shown to be effective in the determination of the concentration of PCBs in liquids. In this modified SPME technique, new stable fibers with nano particles will be developed for efficient and selective absorption of PCBs. Modified fiber holders will be developed to automate the accurate determination of the presence and concentration of PCBs in solid materials. This will be a quick, reliable, cost effective and portable device that can be operated in the field by a single person with minimum training. The sensitivity reached with this technique is 5-700 parts per trillion ( EPA regulation 50 parts per million) in an extraction time of only 50 minutes. The sensitivity, extraction parameters and time for analysis will be improved in this proposal. This proposal will also enable the separation and quantitation of toxic PCB congeners and highly toxic polychlorodibenzofurans (PCDF) and dioxins produced from PCBs. This proposal combines SPME with portable GC and/or GC/MS for automated PCB analysis.
Benefit: This field automated PCB analysis will save time and money for waste management facilities. The preliminary work has the scientific background for this proposal. Less trained worker can carry out the analysis of PCBs and other toxic byproducts of the PCBs. This will be a cost effective fast and reliable field method. This proposal has future application for homeland security applications like chemical and biological warfare agents. The main advantage of this method is less (practicall none) exposure of toxic solvents and chemicals for the worker and fast and accurate quantitative and selecive estimation of toxic PCBs, dioxanes and other disintegration byproducts.
Keywords: GC/MS, GC/MS, PCBs, Solid samples, field-portable, automated heated head-space, SPME
