Solvent solubilization, characterization, and quantitation of aliphatic carboxylic acids in oil shale retort water following chemical derivatization with boron trifluoride in methanol

Boron trifluoride in methanol (BF/sub 3//MeOH) is an excellent reagent for transforming organic solvent insoluble components of oil shale retort water into derivatives which are easier to characterize and quantitate by classical analytical techniques. Treatment of a sample of freeze-dried retort water from the Paraho Oil Shale Demonstration Project (Rifle, Colo.) with BF/sub 3//MeOH converted 28% of the organic carbon in the sample to a benzene soluble form. Capillary gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric analysis of the benzene extract revealed the presence of homologous series of aliphatic monocarboxylic and dicarboxylic acids at concentrations ranging from 3.2 to 138.4 ppM, based on original retort water. These results suggest that this technique in combination with other derivatization techniques can be used to characterize and quantitate water soluble classes of organic components of aqueous process wastes and other environmental samples. 2 tables, 2 figure.