Trace Level Haloacetic Acids in Drinking Water by Direct Injection Ion Chromatography and Single Quadrupole Mass Spectrometry

Chlorine has been widely used to kill disease-causing microbes in drinking water. During the disinfection process, organic and inorganic material in source waters can combine with chlorine and certain other chemical disinfectants to form disinfection by-products. The kind of disinfectant used can produce different types and levels of disinfectant byproducts in the drinking water, such as trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids (5HAAs). Currently, USEPA Method 552 utilizes a methyl tertbutyl ether extraction and diazomethane derivatization of HAAs and phenolic disinfectant by-products, and a gas chromatograph equipped with a capillary column to perform the separation of methyl-haloacetates and anisoles. To detect, gas chromatography and electron capture detector are used. This article demonstrates a simple method using direct injection ion chromatography hyphenated with mass spectrometry for the analysis of 5HAAs.