An efficient method for measuring dissolved VOSCs in wastewater using GC-SCD with static headspace technique

Volatile organic sulfur compounds (VOSCs) are important sources of unpleasant odor in wastewater systems. However, the study of VOSCs is usually hindered by their complicated measurement method and highly reactive nature. In this work, a static headspace method utilising gas chromatography (GC) with a sulfur chemiluminescence detector (SCD) was developed to quantitatively analyze VOSCs in wastewater matrices. The method has low detection limits and requires no pre-concentration treatment. Three typical VOSCs, namely methanethiol (MT), dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS), were chosen as examples for this study. The calibration curves of all three compounds covering a wide range from 0.5 ppb to 500 ppb showed good linearity (R(2) > 0.999). The method detection limits (MDL) were 0.08, 0.12 and 0.21 ppb for MT, DMS and DMDS, respectively. The reproducibility (relative standard deviation) was approximately 2%. The recovery ratio of MT, DMS and DMDS in spiked wastewater samples were 83 ± 4%, 103 ± 4% and 102 ± 3%, respectively. Sample preservation tests showed that VOSCs in wastewater samples could be preserved in vials without headspace under acidified conditions (pH ∼1.1) for at least 24 h without significant changes (<1.8 ppb). The analysis of real wastewater samples from both a laboratory-scale sewer system and a full-scale sewer pipe demonstrated the suitability of this method for routine wastewater VOSC measurement.

Gas chromatographic analysis of volatile sulfur compounds from heated milk using static headspace sampling

An investigation was conducted to test the feasibility of using gas chromatography with static headspace sampling as an objective tool to measure milk flavor quality. Heated milk off-flavor was chosen for study. Different strategies were tried for increasing the sensitivity of a commercially available headspace method, including salting out with sodium sulfate, cryofocusing during injection, and applying backpressure to the sampling loop. With the aid of a sulfur-specific detector, the resulting system was sufficiently sensitive to detect the sulfur volatiles, H2S and dimethyl sulfide, at the concentrations found in pasteurized skim milk. Milk that was heated to varying degrees was analyzed, and the analytical results were compared with the intensity of heated flavor as determined by a sensory panel. For skim milk, correlations were moderately strong: Spearman's correlation coefficients for H2S and dimethyl sulfide were .75 and .60, respectively. Correlations were weak for whole milk.