The deployment of new technologies for greenhouse gas emission mitigation, such as geologic carbon storage, or for unconventional oil and gas energy production involves the injection, production, treatment and recycle of large volumes of water. Due to high volumes of produced water, these processes are being evaluated for potential environmental and health concerns, mainly due to implications from disposal methods and potential surface spills that could affect groundwater aquifers. One of the common characteristics among these technologies is the presence of various organic compounds in their respective subsurface systems, which could potentially migrate into shallow aquifers or other watersheds. Identifying and characterizing those organic compounds helps to assess CO<sub>2</sub> storage permanence and to evaluate impacts on water resources. Our research focuses on investigating the organic compounds present in produced water samples. Solid phase extraction using a Sep-Pak C18 cartridge was employed to isolate organic compounds from produced water. The different organic compounds were then eluted by organic solvents of different polarity and analysis was performed using liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC/Q-TOF-MS) in positive electrospray ionization mode. This presentation will summarize the method development and mass spectral results of organic compounds such as diethyl phthalate, di-n-butyl phthalates and di-n-octyl phthalates in aqueous samples. Further characterization of these compounds by targeted MS/MS will also be discussed.

Use of LC-QTOF mass spectrometry in characterization of produced water for organic compounds: Application to geologic carbon storage and unconventional gas exploration

249th National Meeting (2015)

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