The 1994 QUASIMEME Laboratory-Performance Studies: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in standard solutions

A Laboratory Performance Study has been undertaken in order to assess and improve the measurement of concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in standard solutions as part of the QUASIMEME (EU-Measurement and Testing) Project. Thirty-six laboratories were invited to participate and, of these, 25 returned data on 10 individual parent PAH compounds in two acetonitrile solutions. Techniques based upon both gas chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography were used. The concentrations of the individual PAH ranged from 21.4 to 96.2 mg kg−1 in the first solution (QPH001SS) and from 10.2 to 103.8 mg kg−1 in the second solution (QPH002SS). Seven of the laboratories were judged to have performed well. ‘Robust’ statistical analyses yielded between-laboratory standard deviations from 2.3 to 15.7%. The single factor limiting the performance of laboratories appeared to be the lack of care in reporting data, although other contributing factors were also apparent from the study of individual chromatograms. Advice on improvement is given on this basis.