Abstract
The use of glass impinger is an important device for sampling and handling when measuring volatile organic compounds (SVOCs). Thus, it is important to check for possible analyte losses to the inner glass surface when carrying out sample analysis with the aid of impinger system. In this research, we evaluated the sorptive loss patterns of vapor-phase semi-volatile organic compounds [SVOCs (n = 10): acetic acid (ACA), propionic acid (PPA), i-butyric acid (IBA), n-butyric acid (BTA), i-valeric acid (IVA), n-valeric acid (VLA), phenol (PhAl), p-cresol (p-C), indole (ID), and skatole (SK)] on inert surfaces of an impinger in reference to sampling bags. The gaseous standard of these SVOCs (48–406 ppb) in polyester aluminum (PEA) bags was passed through an empty impinger in 1 L steps. The exiting SVOCs were collected on three-bed sorbent tubes for subsequent analysis by thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (TD-GC-MS). Impinger wall sorption capacities ranged from 2.0 to 21.0 ng cm−2. The 10% breakthrough adsorption capacities on the impinger wall for acids, phenols, and indoles ranged from 1.21 ± 0.15 to 5.39 ± 0.79, 0.92 ± 0.12 to 13.4 ± 2.25, and 4.47 ± 0.42 to 5.23 ± 0.35 ng cm−2, respectively. The observed sorptive patterns suggest that the sorptive losses of the volatile fatty acids, phenols, and indoles can occur very effectively at low ppb levels onto a glass surface.
Highlights
Odor emissions from industrial and agricultural facilities are a common nuisance
The response factor (RF) values obtained from the liquid working standards (LWS)- (Fig. 1; Exp. stage 1a) and gaseous working standard (GWS)-based calibrations (Fig. 1; Exp. stage 1b) are denoted as RF calibration (RFL) and RFG, respectively
The representative chromatograms obtained by the thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) system of the 5th calibration point LWS and GWS (Fig. S1) indicates a considerable peak intensity differences for phenol, p-cresol, indole, and skatole between the two calibration approaches
Summary
Odor emissions from industrial and agricultural facilities are a common nuisance. A number of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including volatile fatty acids (VFAs), phenols, indoles, and skatoles are generally designated as key target malodorants released from such sources[1,2,3]. Skatole causes acute bovine pulmonary emphysema and toxic to human bronchial epithelial cell lines[11,12,13]. It is used by the U.S military in its non-lethal weaponry, malodorants. The proper selection of the sampling and storage method is critically important to accurately quantify semi-volatile odorants. The sorptive losses of low ppb SVOCs on a relatively inert surface of a glass impinger were studied. To this end, a standard containing the 10 target odorant species (VFAs, phenols, and indoles) in nitrogen was pulled through an impinger. The results obtained from this study allowed us to examine the relative sorptive properties of each target on the glass surface (inner wall of the impinger) inferred by the mass balance
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