Determination of phenol in landfill leachate by using microchip capillary electeophoresis with end-channel amperometric detection

Phenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP), and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP) were baseline separated by using a homemade microchip CE with an end-channel amperometric detector where a 50 pin Pt microdisk working electrode (WE) and a Pt cathode were integrated onto the microchip itself. Separation parameters such as injection time and voltage, pH of the buffer, online pretreatment condition for WE, reproducibility, and detection potential were investigated. Under the selected separation conditions, the linear ranges for phenol, 2,4-DCP, and 2,4,6-TCP were 2200, 4 - 400, and 4 - 400 mu M, respectively. The LODs were 0.4, 0.5, and 0.7 mu M for phenol, 2,4-DCP, and 2,4,6-TCP, respectively (S/N = 3). The standard addition method was successfully applied to the analysis of landfill leachate samples and the concentration of phenol in the landfill leachate samples was measured to be 0.32 and 0.21 mM, respectively. The recoveries were in the range of 85 - 103% and corresponding RSDs were less than 5.5%.