Author, as appears in the article.: Maceira A, Vallecillos L, Borrull F, Marcé RM.
Department: Química Analítica i Química Orgànica
URV's Author/s: Borrull Ballarín, Francesc / MACEIRA TORRENTS, ALBA / Marcé Recasens, Rosa Maria / VALLECILLOS MARSAL, LAURA
Keywords: Volatile organic-compounds Volatile organic compounds Thermal desorption Tenax-ta Sorbents Solid adsorbent tubes Pollutants Mass-spectrometry Humidity Gas-chromatography Gas chromatography Desiccant materials Carbotrap Ambient air thermal desorption solid adsorbent tubes humidity gas chromatography desiccant materials
Abstract: This study describes the humidity effect in the sampling process by adsorbent tubes followed by thermal desorption and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS) for the determination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air samples and evaluates possible solutions to this problem. Two multi-sorbent bed tubes, Tenax TA/Carbograph 1TD and Carbotrap B/Carbopack X/Carboxen 569,were tested in order to evaluate their behaviour in the presence of environmental humidity. Humidity problems were demonstrated with carbon-based tubes, while Tenax-based tubes did not display any influence. Silica gel, a molecular sieve and CaCl2 were tried out as materials for drying tube to remove air humidity, placed prior to the sampling tube to prevent water from entering. The pre-tubes filled with 0.5 g of CaCl2 showed the best results with respect to their blanks, the analytes recoveries and their ability to remove ambient humidity. To avoid the possible agglomeration of CaCl2 during the sampling process in high relative humidity atmospheres, 0.1 g of diatomaceous earth were mixed with the desiccant agent. The applicability of the CaCl2 pre-tube as drying agent prior to Carbotrap B/Carbopack X/Carboxen 569 tubes was tested in urban and industrial locations with samplings of air at high relative humidity. In addition, the results were compared with those obtained using Tenax TA/Carbograph 1TD tubes.
Thematic Areas: Zootecnia / recursos pesqueiros Waste management and disposal Saúde coletiva Química Pollution Odontología Nutrição Medicina veterinaria Medicina iii Medicina ii Medicina i Materiais Matemática / probabilidade e estatística Interdisciplinar Historia Geografía Geociências Farmacia Environmental sciences Environmental engineering Environmental chemistry Ensino Engenharias iii Engenharias ii Engenharias i Enfermagem Direito Ciências biológicas iii Ciências biológicas ii Ciências biológicas i Ciências ambientais Ciências agrárias i Ciência de alimentos Ciência da computação Biotecnología Biodiversidade Astronomia / física
licence for use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/
ISSN: 00489697
Author's mail: rosamaria.marce@urv.cat francesc.borrull@urv.cat
Author identifier: 0000-0002-5667-2899 0000-0003-2718-9336
Record's date: 2024-09-07
Papper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion
Link to the original source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969717312445
Licence document URL: https://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/
Papper original source: Science Of The Total Environment. 599-600 1718-1727
APA: Maceira A, Vallecillos L, Borrull F, Marcé RM. (2017). New approach to resolve the humidity problem in VOC determination in outdoor air samples using solid adsorbent tubes followed by TD-GC-MS. Science Of The Total Environment, 599-600(), 1718-1727. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.05.141
Article's DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.05.141
Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Journal publication year: 2017
Publication Type: Journal Publications
Repositori URV