An Added Dimension: GC Atmospheric Pressure Chemical
Ionization FTICR MS and the
Athabasca Oil Sands
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Abstract
The
Athabasca oil sands industry, an alternative source of petroleum,
uses large quantities of water during processing of the oil sands.
In keeping with Canadian environmental policy, the processed water
cannot be released to natural waters and is thus retained on-site
in large tailings ponds. There is an increasing need for further development
of analytical methods for environmental monitoring. The following
details the first example of the application of gas chromatography
atmospheric pressure chemical ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron
resonance mass spectrometry (GC-APCI-FTICR MS) for the study of environmental
samples from the Athabasca region of Canada. APCI offers the advantages
of reduced fragmentation compared to other ionization methods and
is also more amenable to compounds that are inaccessible by electrospray
ionization. The combination of GC with ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry
can improve the characterization of complex mixtures where components
cannot be resolved by GC alone. This, in turn, affords the ability
to monitor extracted ion chromatograms for components of the same
nominal mass and isomers in the complex mixtures. The proof of concept
work described here is based upon the characterization of one oil
sands process water sample and two groundwater samples in the area
of oil sands activity. Using the new method, the O<sub><i>x</i></sub> and O<sub><i>x</i></sub>S compound classes predominated,
with O<sub><i>x</i></sub>S classes being particularly relevant
to the oil sands industry. The potential to resolve retention times
for individual components within the complex mixture, highlighting
contributions from isomers, and to characterize retention time profiles
for homologous series is shown, in addition to the ability to follow
profiles of double bond equivalents and carbon number for a compound
class as a function of retention time. The method is shown to be well-suited
for environmental forensics