Determination of Alkyl Sulfates and Alkyl Ethoxysulfates in Wastewater Treatment Plant Influents and Effluents and in River Water Using Liquid Chromatography/Ion Spray Mass Spectrometry

A method has been developed for monitoring concentrations of alkyl sulfates and alkyl ethoxysulfates (AES) in environmental matrices using ion spray LC/MS to determine individual AES species. The ion spray LC/MS technigue enables interference-free quantitation of completely resolved (by akyl and ethoxylate chain length) AES species at less than part-per-billion concentrations. This method was validated using spike and recovery and measuring concentrations of 36 AES species (ranging in size from 12 to 15 akyl carbons and from 0 to 8 ethoxylate groups) in river water and influents and effluents from a municipally owned wastewater treatment plant