Advances in the analytical methods for the determination of fluorinated aromatic carboxylic acids in aqueous matrices: A review

• Published in: Journal of separation science Vol. 45; no. 1; pp. 78 - 93
• Main Authors: Kumar, Anuj, Sharma, Chhaya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.01.2022
• Subjects: Acids; Benzoic acid; Carboxylic acids; chemical tracers; Chromatography; derivatization; detection limit; Dilution; Enhanced oil recovery; Flow paths; Fluid dynamics; Fluid flow; Fluorination; fluorobenzoic acids; Gas chromatography; gas chromatography-mass spectrometry; high performance liquid chromatography; Injectors; ion exchange chromatography; Ions; isotope dilution technique; Leaching; Liquid chromatography; Mass spectrometry; Oil field equipment; Oil fields; oils; Radioactive tracers; Reservoirs; Scientific imaging; separation; solid phase extraction; Spectroscopy; Toxicity; derivatization; chemical tracers; enhanced oil recovery; solid phase extraction; chromatography; fluorobenzoic acids
• ISSN: 1615-9306; 1615-9314; 1615-9314
• DOI: 10.1002/jssc.202100794

Fluorobenzoic acids are critically important chemical tracers in hydrothermal, geothermal, leaching, and oilfield applications. Particularly in oilfield applications, these tracers are used to investigate fluid flow paths between injector wells and producer wells, providing valuable information about the enhanced oil recovery process of the oil reservoirs. The detection limit of tracers is a vital subject in field reservoir work because the amount of chemical tracer that must be injected into the injector well is directly related to the amount detected at the producer well after migration and diffusion. The popularity of fluorinated benzoic acids as the tracers is due to their non‐toxicity over radioactive tracers and low detection limit, which is determined using analytical techniques. This review focuses on the improvements/developments in extraction techniques such as solid‐phase extraction and determination techniques such as gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry, isotope dilution gas chromatography‐mass spectrometry, high‐performance liquid chromatography, ion chromatography coupled with electrospray mass spectrometry, and so on for the analysis of fluorinated benzoic acids to achieve the lowest possible limit of concentration.