Collection, analysis, and deposition of airborne organic pollutants
A commercial high-volume air sampler with a mixed adsorbent cartridge was evaluated for the collection of semivolatile organics with vapor pressures of 10/sup -3/-10/sup 0/ torr. An apparatus was built wherein vapors of chlorobenzenes, and naphthalenes, and biphenyl were diluted (mixed) with 30-165 m/sup 3/ of filtered and scrubbed laboratory air and then pulled through a polyurethane foam (PUF)-Tenax adsorbent cartridge with a PS-1 hi-vol sampler. The vapor penetration through the main trap was monitored with a back-up adsorbent cartridge. The test compounds were soxhlet extracted from the adsorbents and analyzed by capillary gas chromatography. Collection efficiency based on mass balance averaged 90% +/- 13% for p- and o-dichlorobenzenes, and 92% +/- 14% for hexachlorobenzene; the most-and least-volatile compounds tested. Overall, collections averaged 97% +/- 13%. The rainfall input of organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) to a pristine South Carolina salt marsh was monitored with both bulk and wet-only collectors from July 1981-February 1983. Toxaphene was present in the highest average concentration, 28 ng/L in 31/40 samples, and was up to 80 times higher in summer rains than any other organochlorine analyzed. Both ..cap alpha..-HCH and ..gamma..-HCH were found in nearly every sample while PCB, chlordane, and DDT residues were each found in less than half of the samples.
- Research Organization:
- South Carolina Univ., Columbia (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6918251
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AIR POLLUTION
AIR POLLUTION MONITORING
AIR SAMPLERS
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
AROMATICS
BIPHENYL
CHLORINATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
CONDENSED AROMATICS
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ECOSYSTEMS
EQUIPMENT
EVALUATION
FEDERAL REGION IV
HALOGENATED AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
HYDROCARBONS
INSECTICIDES
MARSHES
NAPHTHALENE
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
PESTICIDES
POLLUTION
SAMPLERS
SOUTH CAROLINA
USA
VOLATILITY
WETLANDS