ANALYTICAL METHODOLOGY FOR THE DETERMINATION OF FREELY AVAILABLE BLEACHED KRAFT MILL EFFLUENT-DERIVED ORGANIC-CONSTITUENTS IN RECIPIENT SEDIMENTS

Methodology for the extraction, identification, and quantification of the freely available bleached kraft mill effluent constituents present in sediments is reported. A single Soxhtet Dean-Stark (SDS) extractio n is followed by extract fractionation and quantification of the chlor ophenolic constituents, resin acids, and base neutral resin-sourced cy clic hydrocarbons by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The extractable organic halide (EOX) content is also determined. The meth odology was evaluated for the ii recovery and reproducibility of selec ted target compounds, surrogate standards, and some isotopically carbo n-13 and deuterium labeled compounds. The recoveries of resin acids, r esin-sourced hydrocarbons, chlorophenols and chloroguaiacols were typi cally of the order 80-95%, while replicate analyses resulted in relati ve standard deviations of the order 5-15%. Application of the methodol ogy to some recipient sediments adjacent to a New Zealand bleached kra ft mill resulted in the detection of elevated concentrations of abieta n-18-oic acid, retene, and dehydroabietin.