Determination of airborne PAHs using passive sampling with 2,6 diphenyl-p-phenylenoxide as adsorbant

Abstract

This study focused on initial tests of a small passive phenylenoxide as the substrate. The sampler was technically designed for both gaseous and particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). It was further validated in a sampling rates were calculated by cross comparison with simultaneous active sampler data. Higher sampling rates were observed for low-molecular-weight PAHs, upon prolonged sampling periods at outdoor ambient air conditions. Although only moderate sampling rates were observed when coupled with a highly sensitive analysis technique based on thermal desorption gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, the passive sampler was shown to be competitive with the other passive samplers in literature. These results are promising and support the future use of this sampler for more quantitative analysis of gaseous and particle-bound PAHs.Keywords polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon. INTRODUCTIONAir pollution caused by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is an issue receiving continuous attention in many of PAHs have been reported in various occupational environments (Branisteanu & Aiking, 1998;Jongeneelen, 2001). Special attention has been allocated to analysing PAHs and associated compounds from incomplete combustion processes, which are believed to play a role in the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and are also considered as mutagenic and carcinogenic compounds (Bowen, 2003;Molto et al., 2009). Some selected physico-chemical characteristics of PAHs are denoted in Table I of the Appendix. Considering the negative impact on human health, initiatives for further investigation and better screening methods to monitor air pollution are required. Most of the current PAH sampling methods are labour-intensive and involve pump-driven techniques. Active sampling is accurate and highly quantitative, but complex in design, expensive and requires maintenance. In contrast, passive samplers are cheap, unobtrusive and have a high spatial resolution (Bohlin, 2010). Consequently, passive sampling has emerged as an innovative technique to overcome today's sampling and analytical shortcomings.for gases was introduced by Palmes and Gunnison (1973) in a form of a mathematical model. Later on, many different types of passive air samplers (PASs) were introduced for sampling of different compounds and the theory has been well established for gaseous compounds (Tompkins & Goldsmith, 1977;Huckins et al., 1990).Most of the existing PASs are designed for gas sampling of semi-volatile organic compounds, and based on high capacity sampling against a linear sampling rate for long durations such as weeks or months. Polyurethane (SPMDs), XAD-resin based samplers and membrane samplers are such examples (Petty et al., 1993; Wania et al., 2003; Harner et al., 2013). In addition, a few low capacity samplers such as polymer coated glass (POG) (Harner et al., 2003) and solid phase micro extraction (SPME) samplers have also been reported (Bohlin, 2010). PAHs are known to partition between the gas and particulate phase, with...