Wykorzystanie ciągłej analizy przepływowej z segmentowaniem strumienia (SFA) oraz detekcją spektrofotometryczną w oznaczaniu indeksu fenolowego w próbkach środowiskowych

Phenols belong to the most important contaminants that are present in natural environment due to many industrial processes (e.g. petrochemical, paper, plastics, dyes and pesticides by-products). Phenol compounds can have an important physiological influence on living organisms, in high concentrations even becoming the cause of acute poisoning or death (according to Paracelsus’ statement that Dosis facit venenum). Because of high toxicity, some of them have been included into the national priority lists of pollutants and required to be determined. In this paper, segmented flow analyzer with photometric detector has been tested for the possibility to determine phenol index determination in water and wastewater environmental samples with complex composition in a precise and safe way. Some validation parameters of established method (fixed under evaluated analytical parameters including e.g. optimized measurement conditions and appropriate sample pre-treatment) were presented. Linearity, limit of detection, precision and accuracy of presented procedure was determined. Finally, the proposed method was applied to the analysis of real samples of water and sewage that were examined due to its contamination with phenols and matrix differentiation. The described full automatic method may be used to determine total content of phenols, called as phenol index. It shows low detection limit, high accuracy and good correctness. Proposed continuous flow system comply with requirements and, therefore, it may be applied in monitoring studies as well as in the routine analysis of real samples of water and wastewater from different sources.