Trace determination of five disinfection by-products in drinking water by ion chromatography

Abstract Disinfectants are widely used in water treatment to control pathogens, the resulting disinfection by-products (DBPs) have been found or suspected to pose health risks. There are limited studies on rapid detection methods for the measurement of DBPs. An ion chromatography method was established for the simultaneous determination of five trace-level DBPs in drinking water, enabling their routine and rapid monitoring in the study. Interferences from major inorganic anions in drinking water were eliminated by optimizing the mobile phase flow rate, gradient program, and column temperature. With an injection volume of 500 µL, the limits of detection (LODs) ranged from 0.55 µg/L to 1.40 µg/L, while the relative standard deviations (RSDs) for peak area and retention time were 1.36%-3.02% and 0.11% ‑0.36%, respectively. The accuracy and precision were evaluated by adding three concentration levels to three different types of water. The recovery rates ranged from 92.7% to 108.0%, and the RSD rates ranged from 0.06% to 1.54%. Furthermore, the proposed method was applied to the quantification of five DBPs in 74 drinking water samples collected from both urban and rural areas, and its applicability was systematically evaluated. The results demonstrate that the method enables the simultaneous, rapid, and accurate quantification of these trace DBPs, thereby serving as a sensitive and reliable analytical tool while concurrently providing preliminary data essential for public health surveillance.