The Determination of Dispersed Oil in Water Using Automated SPE in Compliance with OSPAR and ISO 9377-2 Methods in Norway

Accurate measurement of dispersed oil-in-water (OIW) has become increasingly more important as international regulations are implemented, requiring off-shore platforms and refineries to demonstrate to regulators and government bodies that effective and accurate OIW monitoring is taking place, as non-conformance of these regulations can result in financial penalties. This application note provides an overview of the OSPAR-recommended method of gas chromatography and flame ionization detection (GC-FID), as described in the modified ISO 9377-2 GC-FID. The use of solid phase extraction (SPE) also eliminates many of the problems that can occur during the extraction step.