Investigation of methyl tert-butyl ether levels in river-, ground-, and sewage-waters analyzed using a purge-and-trap interfaced to a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer.

River water collected from 27 sites in 21 rivers, groundwater from 66 sites in 34 cities, and 2 sewage plants in the Niigata Prefecture, Japan (total 301 samples) were analyzed for methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) using an improved purge-and-trap-GC-MS method. The amount of MTBE found in water samples from the 27 river sites ranged from 0.003 to 5.

Determination of semivolatile organic compounds in environmental samples by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry after extraction by cyclic steam distillation.

A method was developed for the multiple determination of semivolatile organic compounds found in groundwater, river water, seawater, sediment, and soil. Forty standard compounds were determined: n-alkenes, cycloalkanes, aromatic hydrocarbons, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The compounds were isolated from water and soil samples by using an essential oil distillator (cyclic steam distillator) with hexane as a solvent.