As a result of their toxicity, ease of analysis, and environmental occurrence, 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were chosen as priority pollutants by the USEPA. Few studies have been conducted to assess the levels of PAHs in South Africa, especially KwaZulu Natal province, and no work has been done in the selected study area. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the levels of such PAHs in river water and wastewater samples and evaluate their source and ecological risk. The status of these PAHs in the South African environment has not been investigated fully, which is a gap this study intended to fill. The PAHs were determined using solid-phase extraction (SPE) and dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) methods. The optimization and validation of these methods indicated that both methods can be used for the extraction of PAHs in liquid samples. This is because of the acceptable %recovery of 72.1%–118% for SPE and 70.7%–88.4% for DLLME with a %RSD less than 10% (indicating high precision) that was obtained. The limit of detection and limit of quantification ranged from 5.0 to 18 ng/L and 6.0–20 ng/L for SPE and from 10 to 44 ng/L and 11 to 63 ng/L for DLLME. These results demonstrated that SPE is more accurate and sensitive than DLLME, which was also confirmed by statistical analysis. The PAH concentration levels ranged from not detected (nd) to 1046 ng/L in river water and nd to 778 ng/L in wastewater samples with naphthalene demonstrating dominance over all other PAHs in both water matrices. The PAHs were found to be of petrogenic origin and posed low ecological risk on average. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2024;00:1–13. © 2024 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

中文翻译：

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用于测定水基质中 16 种 USEPA 优先多环芳烃中的 11 种的萃取方法的效率比较：来源和生态风险评估

由于其毒性、易于分析和环境影响，16 种多环芳烃 (PAH) 被 USEPA 选为优先污染物。很少有研究评估南非，特别是夸祖鲁纳塔尔省的多环芳烃水平，而且在选定的研究区域也没有开展任何工作。因此，本研究旨在评估河水和废水样品中此类PAHs的含量，并评估其来源和生态风险。南非环境中这些多环芳烃的状况尚未得到充分调查，本研究旨在填补这一空白。采用固相萃取 (SPE) 和分散液液微萃取 (DLLME) 方法测定 PAH。这些方法的优化和验证表明两种方法均可用于液体样品中PAHs的提取。这是因为 SPE 的可接受回收率为 72.1%–118%，DLLME 的回收率为 70.7%–88.4%，且所获得的 %RSD 小于 10%（表明高精度）。 SPE 的检测限和定量限为 5.0 至 18 ng/L 和 6.0-20 ng/L，DLLME 的检测限和定量限为 10 至 44 ng/L 和 11 至 63 ng/L。这些结果表明，SPE 比 DLLME 更准确、更灵敏，这也得到了统计分析的证实。河水中的 PAH 浓度范围为未检测到 (nd) 至 1046 ng/L，废水样品中的 PAH 浓度范围为 nd 至 778 ng/L，表明萘在两种水基质中均优于所有其他 PAH。多环芳烃被发现源自石油，平均生态风险较低。整体环境评估管理2024；00:1–13。 © 2024 作者。综合环境评估和管理由 Wiley periodicals LLC 代表环境毒理学与化学学会 (SETAC) 出版。