Outdoor passive air monitoring of semi volatile organic compounds (SVOCs): a critical evaluation of performance and limitations of polyurethane foam (PUF) disks

The most commonly used passive air sampler (PAS) (i.e. polyurethane foam (PUF) disk) is cheap, versatile, and capable of accumulating compounds present both in gas and particle phases. Its performance for particle associated compounds is however disputable. In this study, twelve sets of triplicate P...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science--processes & impacts 2014, Vol.16 (3), p.433-444
Main Authors: Bohlin, P, Audy, O, Škrdlíková, L, Kukučka, P, Přibylová, P, Prokeš, R, Vojta, Š, Klánová, J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air Pollutants - analysis
Enviromental Science
Environmental Monitoring - instrumentation
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated - analysis
Miljövetenskap
Pesticides - analysis
Polychlorinated Biphenyls - analysis
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - analysis
Polyurethanes - chemistry
Volatile Organic Compounds - analysis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The most commonly used passive air sampler (PAS) (i.e. polyurethane foam (PUF) disk) is cheap, versatile, and capable of accumulating compounds present both in gas and particle phases. Its performance for particle associated compounds is however disputable. In this study, twelve sets of triplicate PUF-PAS were deployed outdoors for exposure periods of 1-12 weeks together with continuously operated active samplers, to characterize sampling efficiency and derive sampling rates (RS) for compounds belonging to 7 SVOC classes (including particle associated compounds). PUF-PAS efficiently and consistently sampled polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and eight novel brominated flame retardant (nBFR) compounds. Low accuracy and lack of sensitivity was observed for most polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/furans PCDD/Fs and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) (under the conditions of this study), with the exception of some congeners which may be used as qualitative markers for their respective classes. Application of compound specific RS was found crucial for all compounds except PCBs. Sampling efficiency of the particle associated compounds was often low.
ISSN:2050-7887
2050-7895
2050-7895
DOI:10.1039/c3em00644a