Determination of Icing Inhibitors (Ethylene Glycol Monomethyl Ether and Diethylene Glycol Monomethyl Ether) in Ground Water by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

A gas chromatography/mass spectrometric assay method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of icing inhibitors, ethylene glycol monomethyl ether and diethylene glycol monomethyl ether in ground water contaminated with JP-8. Ethylene glycol monobutyl ether and ethylene glycol monoethyl ether were used as the internal standard and surrogate, respectively. 100 mL of ground water was extracted twice with 20 mL of methylene chloride. The extract was concentrated to dryness, dissolved with 100 µL of methanol and analyzed by GC-MS (SIM). The use of an Innowax column gave the peaks good chromatographic properties, and the extraction of these compounds from samples gave recoveries of about 50% with small variations. The method detection limits of the target compounds were in a range of 0.5-0.8 ng/mL in ground water.