Chemometric tools applied to optimize a fast solid-phase microextraction method for analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in produced water

Chemometric tools are powerful strategies to efficiently optimize many processes. These tools were employed to optimize a fast-solid phase microextraction procedure, which was used for the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in oil-based produced water using a Headspace-Solid Phase Microextraction technique (HS-SPME/GC-MS). This optimization was achieved with a 2(4)factorial design approach, where the final conditions for this extraction procedure were 10 mu g L-1, 1 h, 92 degrees C (at headspace), and 0.62 mol L(-1)for PAHs concentration, fiber exposition to headspace, temperature, and NaCl concentration, respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) in this protocol ranged from 0.2 to 41.4 ng L-1, while recovery values from 67.65 to 113.10%. Besides that, relative standard deviation (RSD) were lower than 8.39% considering high molecular weight compounds. Moreover, the proposed methodology in this work does not require any previous treatment of the sample and allows to quantify a higher number of PAHs. Notably, naphthalene was the major PAHs compound quantified in all samples of the produced water at 99.99 mu g L-1. Altogether, these results supported this methodology as a suitable analytical strategy for fast determination of PAHs in produced water from oil-based industry.

Automated summary

Chemometric tools were applied to optimize a fast-solid phase microextraction procedure for the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in oil-based produced water. The optimized conditions included specific concentrations, time, temperature, and salt concentration, resulting in low detection limits and good recovery rates. This methodology was identified as a suitable and efficient analytical strategy for determining PAHs in produced water from the oil-based industry.