Abstract
ABSTRACT A quadrotor drone was equipped with an active solid phase microextraction (SPME) sampling device, known as a needle trap sampler (NTS), for extracting airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The NTS, which has a 22-gauge stainless steel needle that is manually packed with 60–80-mesh adsorbent divinylbenzene (DVB) particles, was attached to a telescoping shaft to extend the sampling range beyond the strong downward stream that flows across the propellers of a hovering drone. The end of the NTS inlet was positioned below the head of the drone, which was the optimal location determined by using the flow simulation software SolidWorks. Our results confirm the feasibility of collecting toluene, ethylbenzene, and p-xylene matrix vapor with a telescoping SPME sampling device on a quadrotor drone using a pilot VOC exhaustion system. Therefore, we recommend this mobile system for sampling polluted air emitted by industrial factories.
Highlights
Industrial air pollution greatly affects human lives and the environment
A quadrotor drone was equipped with an active solid phase microextraction (SPME) sampling device, known as a needle trap sampler (NTS), for extracting airborne volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
Flow Simulation and Analysis of Target Drone Based on the flow patterns of the hovering quadrotor drone that were observed using dry ice spray, as presented in Fig. 5, the dry ice vapor initially gathered above the drone and accelerated rapidly downwards
Summary
Industrial air pollution greatly affects human lives and the environment. If pollutants are not detected in a timely manner, follow-up treatments will not be effectively implemented. Cheng et al (2011) sampled gaseous aromatic compounds using divinylbenzene (DVB) adsorbent that was packed in specially made needle-type SPME devices, called needle trap samplers (NTSs; Fig. 1) They successfully sampled various emissions from indoor sources (Cheng et al, 2013; Cheng and Lai, 2014; Cheng et al, 2014, 2015, 2016) and organic vapor emissions in workplaces (Cheng et al, 2017, 2019). An NTS and an air-extracting pump were installed on a light and mini-sized quadrotor drone (Mavic Pro; DJI) (Fig. 2) to measure ambient organic emissions from stationary air exhaust sources This quadrotor multicopter is very small, and it can travel faster and more safely than an octorotor drone between exhaust stacks in industrial factories. Based on the results of the model simulation, a specially designed telescoping NTS sampling device was used to collect non-disturbed samples exhausted from a stack
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