Determination of substituted phenols in water by gas chromatography mass spectroscopy after solid phase extraction

The waste slurry generated in fertilizer plants has been converted into a cheap carbonaceous adsorbent material. This product is a promising scavenger of some toxic metal ions and phenols in industrial effluents. This reported investigations deal with the use of this adsorbent in Solid Phase Extraction. The present work gives the comparison study of Carbopack PF cartridge (prepared by activated carbon developed from the fertilizer waste), Carbopack C cartridge (prepared by commercially available activated carbon) and silicon cartridge for the determination of phenols. Carbopack PF and Carbopack C solid phase extraction cartridges give higher recoveries than the Silicon cartridge (C-8,C-18) for phenols from water. Of the various elution solvents tested, acetic acid and acetone give the highest and most consistent recoveries for a group of compounds.