Development of accurate methods for on-site gas chromatographic determination of volatile organic compounds in environmental objects using solid-phase microextraction

The project is being carried out within the framework of grant funding from the Science Committee of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2022-2024. Individual registration number (IRN) of the project: AP14871374

Project supervisor: Bulat Kenessov, PhD, Professor

Quantification of organic pollutants includes collecting environmental samples, transporting them to the laboratory and their laboratory analysis. Moving the analysis to the field would avoid transportation, allow decreasing costs, increasing accuracy, faster decision making on the levels of environmental and human health risks, pollution area. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is one of the best approaches for on-site analysis because it is very simple, does not require organic solvents, combines sampling and sample preparation into one step. Nevertheless, the number of available SPME-based methods for on-site quantification of organic pollutants is very low, which is caused by the difficulty in their development.

2.2. Project goal

The project is aimed at the development of four simple and accurate methods for on-site gas chromatographic determination of volatile organic compounds in soil, water and air using solid-phase microextraction. To enhance the development process, recent achievements in SPME and computational simulation using COMSOL Multiphysics will be used.

2.3. Project Tasks

1. Development of the method for on-site quantification of transformation products of rocket fuel unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine in soil using headspace solid-phase microextraction.

2. Development of the method for on-site quantification of transformation products of rocket fuel unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine in air using solid-phase microextraction.

3. Development of the method for on-site quantification of transformation products of rocket fuel unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine in water using headspace solid-phase microextraction.

4. Development of the method for on-site quantification of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene in air using solid-phase microextraction.

5. Study of the automation possibility of on-site quantification of environmental pollutants using solid-phase microextraction.

6. Development of recommendations for the development of analytical methods for on-site quantification of environmental pollutants

Bulat Kenessov - project supervisor, Ph.D., Professor, Acting Director of the Central of Physicochemical Methods of Research and Analysis, ResearcherID: C-7013-2012, ORCID: 0000-0001-8541-0903, Scopus Author ID: 23479696100

Bauyrzhan Bukenov - researcher, ResearcherID: AAV-5565-2020, ORCID: 0000-0002-3582-6887, Scopus Author ID: 57216649008

Anel Amangeldykyzy Kapar - researcher, doctoral student, ResearcherID: FCT-8275-2022, ORCID: 0000-0001-9828-5654, Scopus Author ID: 57191839630

Tolkyn Kurmanbaeva - junior researcher, doctoral student

Nadezhda V. Bakaikina - researcher, ResearcherID: GRX-8517-2022, ORCID: 0000-0002-5771-9417, Scopus Author ID: 56688538900

Kazhkenova Nargiz - junior researcher

Expected results:

Publications:
two journal articles from Q1-Q2 (Web of Science)
one journal article from Q1-Q3 (Web of Science)
one article submitted to the journal from Q1-Q3 (Web of Science)

Methods for the quantitative determination of transformation products (PT) of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) rocket fuel in soil, air and water and BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene) in air will be developed, tested and prepared for use using SPME and portable gas chromatography (GC).

research, monitoring and forensic studies. New methods for on-site quantification of transformation products of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine will allow faster, cheaper and more accurate (due to lower losses of unstable analytes during transportation) collection of very important data on the levels of pollution of soil, water and air, and a more effective decision making aimed at decreasing environmental and health risks related to regular and accidental spills of toxic rocket fuel. With the new methods, negative impacts of accidental spills of toxic rocket fuel could be substantially reduced. Faster on-site data collection using developed methods will help to develop of a better sampling plan for further laboratory analyses. New method for on-site quantification of BTEX in air will allow more accurate monitoring of these analytes in air and quick data collection in cases of accidents (spills of gasoline and crude oil, fires, etc.). The developed methods can further be upgraded for using with portable GC-MS. New knowledge obtained during the project should give an impulse to the development of new SPME-based methods for on-site quantification of organic pollutants. The recommendations for the development of such analytical methods should provide an important assistance in these studies. In the long-term, the developed methods and obtained knowledge can decrease the cost of environmental monitoring and make the environment cleaner and safer.