Spatial distribution of typical persistent organic pollutants in South China Sea by economical solid phase microextraction with hierarchical porous biochar

Abstract

Rapid, accurate, and cost-effective determination of typical persistent organic pollutants in marine water provides crucial support for risk management and remediation. Herein, an activated Cucumis metuliferus biochar (ACMB) with large specific surface area, hierarchical structure, and large pore volume, was synthesized through a simple treatment process. Subsequently, it was fabricated as uniform solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fiber at a cost of less than 0.17 Renminbi (RMB) per fiber for the extraction of five polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and four organochlorine compounds (OCs) in marine water. The ACMB-coated fiber exhibited exceptional enrichment factors ranging from 1601 to 6732, and outperformed the commercial fibers in terms of stability, extraction performance, and production cost, verifying its outstanding practicability. By coupling it with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), a highly automatic method was developed, exhibiting low detection limits (0.30-0.99 ng L^-1), wide linear ranges (5-2000 ng L^-1), and good reproducibility. It realized the highly efficient determinations of PAHs and OCs in marine water samples collected from South China Sea (n=18), providing the spatial distribution of acenaphthene, fluorene, and anthracene in the marine environment.