Determination of aniline and substituted derivatives in wastewater by gas and liquid chromatography

The gas-chromatographic and high-performance chromatographic (GC and HPLC respectively) determination of anilines in aqueous media were studied. Eight wastewater samples were collected for method validation. The application of a GC/thermionic nitrogen-phosphorus selective detection to anilines offered better selectivity and sensitivity than HPLC and other GC detectors. A conventional solvent scheme with methylene chloride allowed adequate recovery from aqueous waste samples. The method is capable of determining a wide variety of anilines at the ppb level in industrial aqueous discharges.