An automated gas chromatographic (autoGC) system was used to collect and analyze both nonpolar and polar volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in ambient air. This system combines the use of dual multiadsorbent traps to provide continuous air sampling for 57 min of each hour; a dry helium purge to remove extraneous gases, including some residual water vapor retained in the sorbent packing; thermal desorption of analytes onto a VOC-focusing trap cooled by a small Stirling-cycle refrigerator; and GC/mass spectrometric detection using ion trap technology. Cleanliness, linearity, method detection limits (MDLs), precision, and accuracy of the autoGC were determined for 41 VOCs. For most of the compounds tested, MDLs were less than 0.10 ppbv, response was linear over the 1-40 ppbv range, accuracy was (20%, and trap-to-trap precision was (20%. Linear response for a set of polar VOCs was also determined over the 5-50 ppbv range. The autoGC was successfully operated in a mobile laboratory at a field site in Axis, AL, for 10 days, during which time the system was in operation 24 h/day with minimal interruptions. This autoGC is designed for monitoring subsets of the 97 VOCs among the 189 hazardous organic compounds that are listed in Title III of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.