Purge-assisted solid phase microextraction based on activated carbon as a new technique for determination of odorous compounds in drinking water samples

The purge and trap method is widely used to extract volatile organic compounds from aqueous samples, but this method is time-consuming and analytes are difficult to desorb. Compared to purge and trap, solid phase microextraction (SPME) can desorbs analytes easily and quickly by inserting the fiber into the injection site of a gas chromatograph. However, other studies have demonstrated that the purge and trap method has a lower detection limits than SPME. This research aims to improve the efficiency of SPME by coupling it with purging by N2, named purge assisted SPME or PSPME as a novel technique for determination and quantification of trace amounts of odorous compounds (geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol) from water samples. The results showed that the extraction efficiency of PSPME has increased more than five times compared to normal SPME. Also, the optimal extraction time has decreased from 30 min to about 10 min.