Comparison between Head Space Gas Sampling and Purge & Trap Sampling in Water Analysis

The two main methods to prepare water samples for analyzing volatile organic compounds(VOC's) were investigated. One is the purge and trap(PT) method and another is the head space(HS) sampling method. Both methods were effective to transfer the low boiling point components from the water sample onto the capillary column. The cryo-focusing at the top of the main capillary column was an effective way to obtain the sharpness of the chromatographic peaks but could be avoided when a semi-wide bore column was used. The recovery from the same amount of the sample was better in PT than in HS but a larger sample volume in HS method could compensate the lower efficiency. Therefore PT is suitable to the analysis of drinking water where the very low concentration must be determined. HS is suitable to waste water analysis because of the easiness of the operation. The repeatability was good and similar in both methods. For the contamination of the former sample, both methods were tough and could be used without any problems. The matrix effect which could change the equilibrium parameters in HS method was find negligible in many components. The actual samples such as tap water and river water were analyzed with both methods concerning 16 components regulated in Korea.