Sampling of airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Journal Article · Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 1987 · Anal. Chem.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/ac00140a025· OSTI ID:6418622

Otson, R; Leach, J M; Chung, L T.K.

Limitations of NIOSH sampling method P and CAM 183 were defined for airborne standard mixtures of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) generated as vapors in a flow-through apparatus. The PAH fell into three categories: those that were too volatile to be collected by the NIOSH filtration method at normal ambient temperatures and were best sampled with Tenax or XAD-2 sorbent (i.e., indane, naphthalene, biphenyl, acenaphthene, fluorene, 9,10-dihydrophenanthrene, phenathrene, and anthracene); those that were quantitatively collected by filters, even after a brief airborne residence time (i.e., benz(a)anthracene, chrysene, benzo(a)pyrene, dibenz(a,h)anthracene, and benzo(ghi)perylene); and those that partitioned between filter and sorbent (i.e., fluoranthene and pyrene). A combination glass fiber/silver membrane filter backed by two sorbent tubes in series gave overall mean recoveries of 94-96% for the 15 PAH studied at total concentrations of, nominally, 0.2 and 0.02 mg/m/sup 3/. Individual PAH concentrations were 0.03-0.05 and 0.003-0.005 mg/m/sup 3/, respectively.

• Research Organization: Health and Welfare Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
• OSTI ID: 6418622
• Journal Information: Anal. Chem.; (United States), Journal Name: Anal. Chem.; (United States) Vol. 59:13; ISSN ANCHA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400105* -- Separation Procedures
500200 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ADSORBENTS
AIR
AIR POLLUTION MONITORS
AIR QUALITY
AIR SAMPLERS
AROMATICS
DATA
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
EQUIPMENT
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FILTERS
FILTRATION
FLUIDS
GASES
HYDROCARBONS
INFORMATION
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MONITORS
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PARTICLES
PARTICULATES
PERFORMANCE
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
QUANTITY RATIO
SAMPLERS
SAMPLING
SEPARATION PROCESSES