Development of an Indoor Air Sampler for Polycyclic Aromatic Compounds

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We have developed a new air sampler for collecting parriculate and gas phase polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAC). This sampler was designed to collect a 25 m3 volume of air at a constant sampling rate of 34 l/min over a 12-hour sampling penod. The 25 m3 sample volume is necessary to achieve the desired nglm3 detection limit for PAC. The 34 l/min sampling rate is estimated to cause less than a 5% reduction in the indoor contaminant concentrations. The sampler pump is a I/4 horsepower vacuum pump in an acoustically shielded fan-cooled enclosure and is relatively quiet. The pump draws air through a 47 mm teflon impregnated glass fibre filter for collection of particulate-phase PAC followed by a cartridge containing XAD-4 resin in front and back sections (2.5 g each) for collection of gas-phase PAC. In a pilot field study the mean breakthrough from the front sorbent section to the back section was less than 1% for each of 14 species of gas phase PAC except biphenyl which had a mean breakthrough of 3.7%. The pressure drop increase across the filter is linear up to a loading of 6 mg and causes less than a 10% reduction in the sample flow rate. The sampler was successfully demonstrated in a pilot field test with air temperatures as high as 30°C.