A modified method for the analysis of organics in industrial wastewater asdirected by their toxicity to Vibrio fischeri

A method for the identification of toxic compounds in industrial wastewater is presented, consisting of sequential solid phase extraction (SPE), fract ionation by HPLC and GC-MS for compound identification. All analytical step s are accompanied by an automated detection of the aquatic toxicity by lumi nescence inhibition of Vibrio fischeri, which helps to reduce the large num ber of samples and subsamples that have to be processed by excluding those without toxic effects. The advantages of this procedure in comparison to pr evious methods of toxicity directed water analysis are discussed. The proce dure was successfully applied to various samples of tannery wastewater, sho wing that benzothiazoles account for the major toxicity of tanyard wastewat er. For very polar wastewater con stituents, such as in beamhouse wastewate rs, the use of LC-MS/MS for the final compound identification is suggested.