Effects of Environmentally Relevant Concentration Exposure Profiles on Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Sampler (POCIS) Sampling Rates

Abstract

Polar organic chemical integrative sampler (POCIS) is a passive sampling device that offers many advantages over traditional discrete sampling methods, but quantitative time-weighted average (TWA) concentrations rely heavily on the robustness of sampling rates. The effects of changing chemical concentration exposures on POCIS sampling rates and its ability to operate in an integrative regime were investigated for 12 pesticides across a range of environmentally relevant concentrations. In five independent 21-day experiments, POCIS devices were exposed to these compounds at constant concentrations ranging from 3 to 60 µg/L and multiple pulsed concentrations with maximum peaks ranging from 5 to 150 µg/L (TWA concentrations = 3 to 92 µg/L). For the 21-day exposures to constant and pulsed concentrations, there was no significant difference in POCIS sampling rates between corresponding TWA concentrations. Similarly, there was no significant effect on POCIS ability to operate in an integrative regime. However, loss of linearity was visible for some replicates when exposed to higher pulsed concentrations over an extended period. Modeling and Freundlich isotherms did not predict sorbent saturation, but the extraction and reconstitution protocol likely contributed to atrazine dissolution and subsequent underestimation of sorbed chemical mass when HLB adsorption exceeded 400 µg.