Odour‐causing compounds in air samples: Gas–liquid partition coefficients and determination using solid‐phase microextraction and GC with mass spectrometric detection

Abstract

A quantification method based on solid-phase microextraction followed by GC coupled to MS was developed for the determination of gas-liquid partition coefficients and for the air monitoring of a group of odour-causing compounds that had previously been found in wastewater samples including dimethyl disulphide, phenol, indole, skatole, octanal, nonanal, benzothiazole and some terpenes. Using a divinylbenzene/carboxen/polydimethylsiloxane fibre, adsorption kinetics have been studied to define an extraction time that would avoid coating saturation. It was found that for an extraction time of 10 min, external calibration could be performed in the range of 0.4-100 μg/m(3), with detection limits between 0.1 and 20 μg/m(3). Inter-day precision of the developed method was evaluated (n = 5) and RSD values between 12 and 24% were obtained for all compounds. The proposed method has been applied to the analysis of air samples surrounding a wastewater treatment plant in Catalonia (Spain). In all air samples evaluated, dimethyl disulphide, limonene and phenol were detected, and the first two were the compounds that showed the highest partition coefficients.

Development of a method for the monitoring of odor-causing compounds in atmospheres surrounding wastewater treatment plants

“…The other four compounds that were not detected were evaluated as they are usually found in water samples from the inlet of the WWTPs evaluated in the present study . However, the determination of their gas–liquid partition coefficients indicates the limited partitioning of these compounds to the air surrounding the plants . Therefore, although indole and skatole have previously been detected in air from some sewage treatment plants , calculations made taking into account the levels detected in water samples and their calculated partitioning coefficients confirm that air levels well below the LODs are to be expected in the air surrounding the WWTPs.…”

“…The LODs of the method obtained (Table ) are below the range of concentrations usually found in contaminated atmospheres, such as WWTPs, petrochemical complexes, and industrial areas . For noncontaminated atmospheres, the LODs may not allow the quantification of some of the target compounds .…”

A Review of Environmental Occurrence, Fate, Exposure, and Toxicity of Benzothiazoles

“…Few studies exist on the occurrence of BTs in environmental matrixes such as air, indoor dust, road dust, soil, tire, pavers, antifreeze, and textiles (Table ). ,,,,− High concentrations of BTH (geometric mean (GM): 150 μg/g; detection frequency: 100%) were found in the particulate phase of indoor air samples from Albany, New York, U.S.A. Indoor air collected from automobiles contained the highest concentrations of ∑BTs (GM: 148 ng/m 3 ) . In a study, BTs were reported to occur in exhaled breath condensate, and the total daily exhalation rate of BTs was estimated at 19 μg/day .…”

Determination of the gas-to-liquid partitioning coefficients using a new dynamic absorption method (DynAb method)

“…The main disadvantage of the static methodology are the high standard deviations (more than 10 %) on repeated measurements both for low (K AW < 0.06) and high (K AW > 8) partitioning coefficients [8]. Also between this range, high standard deviations are reported [14,15].…”