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U.S. Department of Energy
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Measurements of VOCs from the TAMs network

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5485832

Target volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured at a network of urban air monitoring locations in Boston, Chicago, Houston, and the Seattle/Tacoma area. Following a pilot-scale field evaluation of available techniques for determining concentrations of VOCs in ambient air, a technique based on evacuated stainless steel canisters was selected to collect whole air samples. Twenty-four-hour integrated samples were collected every twelfth day at ten sites over a 2-year study period. Battelle Columbus Laboratory (BCL) analyzed the samples for 25 target VOCs using cryogenic focusing, gas chromatographic separation and mass selective detection with flame ionization detection as backup. Duplicate canister samplers were operated each sampling period at one of the ten sites in the Toxic Air Monitoring System (TAMS) network to estimate overall method precision. In addition, every 10th analysis was repeated by BCL to obtain a measure of analytical precision. (Copyright (c) 1992 - Air Waste Management Association.)

Research Organization:
Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC (United States). Atmospheric Research and Exposure Assessment Lab.
OSTI ID:
5485832
Report Number(s):
PB-94-122538/XAB; EPA--600/J-93/463
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English