title: Effect of water velocity on the uptake of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) by silicone rubber (SR) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) passive samplers: an assessment of the efficiency of performance reference compounds (PRCs) in river-like flow conditions.
abstract: One aim of this study is to determine the impact of water velocity on the uptake of indicator polychlorinated biphenyls (iPCBs) by silicone rubber (SR) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) passive samplers. A second aim is to assess the efficiency of performance reference compounds (PRCs) to correct for the impact of water velocity. SR and LDPE samplers were spiked with 11 or 12 PRCs and exposed for 6 weeks to four different velocities (in the range of 1.6 to 37.7 cm s(-1)) in river-like flow conditions using a channel system supplied with river water. A relationship between velocity and the uptake was found for each iPCB and enables to determine expected changes in the uptake due to velocity variations. For both samplers, velocity increases from 2 to 10 cm s(-1), 30 cm s(-1) (interpolated data) and 100 cm s(-1) (extrapolated data) lead to increases of the uptake which do not exceed a factor of 2, 3 and 4.5, respectively. Results also showed that the influence of velocity decreased with increasing the octanol-water coefficient partition (log K(ow)) of iPCBs when SR is used whereas the opposite effect was observed for LDPE. Time-weighted average (TWA) concentrations of iPCBs in water were calculated from iPCB uptake and PRC release. These calculations were performed using either a single PRC or all the PRCs. The efficiency of PRCs to correct the impact of velocity was assessed by comparing the TWA concentrations obtained at the four tested velocities. For SR, a good agreement was found among the four TWA concentrations with both methods (average RSD<10%). Also for LDPE, PRCs offered a good correction of the impact of water velocity (average RSD of about 10 to 20%). These results contribute to the process of acceptance of passive sampling in routine regulatory monitoring programs.
authors.affiliation: School of Criminal Sciences, University of Lausanne, Batochime, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address: nicolas.estoppey@unil.ch.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Estoppey
authors.affiliation: School of Criminal Sciences, University of Lausanne, Batochime, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Adrien
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schopfer
authors.affiliation: Central Environmental Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 2, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Julien
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Omlin
authors.affiliation: School of Criminal Sciences, University of Lausanne, Batochime, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Esseiva
authors.affiliation: Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology Eawag-EPFL, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Etiënne L M
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Vermeirssen
authors.affiliation: School of Criminal Sciences, University of Lausanne, Batochime, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Delémont
authors.affiliation: Central Environmental Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Station 2, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Luiz F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: De Alencastro
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis*; D020959:Polyethylene / Q000737:chemistry; D045483:Rivers / Q000737:chemistry*; D012826:Silicone Elastomers / Q000737:chemistry; D014872:Water Movements; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D012826:Silicone Elastomers; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D020959:Polyethylene; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: Low density polyethylene (LDPE); Passive sampling; Performance reference compounds (PRC); Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB); Silicone rubber (SR); Water velocity