Alternative Strategies and Methods for Concentrating Chemicals from Water

Abstract

The concentration of organic matter in water can range from several hundred micrograms per liter in groundwater to many milligrams per liter in industrial or sewage effluents. Generally, the biologically active materials will be present in concentrations too low to be detected by testing the small amount of aqueous sample that can be incorporated directly into a biological test system. The organic matter in drinking water and wastewater is a complex mixture and defies complete characterization by current technology. Consequently, these materials cannot be purchased or synthesized for biological testing, but must be obtained from the water to be evaluated. A paradoxical situation results, since the evaluation of methods for concentrating an organic substance depends on the existence of reliable analytical methods for the quantitative analysis of the substance. Therefore most of the data available concerning organic concentration techniques are based on performance with a few specific compounds or on general parameters such as total organic carbon (TOC) or total organic halogen.