Testing odorants recovery from a novel metallized fluorinated ethylene propylene gas sampling bag

Abstract

Industry-standard Tedlar bags for odor sample collection from confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) have been challenged by the evidence of volatile organic compound (VOC) losses and background interferences. Novel impermeable aluminum foil with a thin layer of fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) film on the surface that is in contact with a gas sample was developed to address this challenge. In this research, Tedlar and metallized FEP bags were compared for (a) recoveries of four characteristic CAFO odorous VOCs (ethyl mercaptan, butyric acid, isovaleric acid and p-cresol) after 30 min and 24 hr sample storage time and for (b) chemical background interferences. All air sampling and analyses were performed with solid-phase microextraction (SPME) followed by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). Mean target gas sample recoveries from metallized FEP bags were 25.9% and 28.0% higher than those in Tedlar bags, for 30 min and 24 hr, respectively. Metallized FEP bags demonstrated the highest p-cresol recoveries after 30-min and 24-hr storage, 96.1 ± 44.5% and 44.8 ± 10.2%, respectively, among different types of sampling bags reported in previous studies. However, a higher variability was observed for p-cresol recovery with metallized FEP bags. A 0% recovery of ethyl mercaptan was observed with Tedlar bags after 24-hr storage, whereas an 85.7 ± 7.4% recovery was achieved with metallized FEP bags. Recoveries of butyric and isovaleric acids were similar for both bag types. Two major impurities in Tedlar bags' background were identified as N,N-dimethylacetamide and phenol, while backgrounds of metallized FEP bags were significantly cleaner. Reusability of metallized FEP bags was tested. Implications: Caution is advised when using polymeric materials for storage of livestock-relevant odorous volatile organic compounds. The odorants loss with storage time confirmed that long-term storage in whole-air form is ill advised. A focused short-term odor sample containment should be biased toward the most inert material available relative to the highest impact target odorant. Metallized FEP was identified as such a material to p-cresol as the highest impact odorant from confined animal feeding operations. Metallized FEP bags have much cleaner background than commercial Tedlar bags do. Significantly higher recoveries of methyl mercaptan and p-cresol were also observed with metallized FEP bags. IntroductionIn recent decades, intensive large-scale livestock production has grown rapidly in the United States and other parts of the world. The large number of animals raised in concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) can affect air quality by emissions of odor, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), NH 3 , H 2 S, greenhouse gases (GHGs), and particulate matter (PM) (National Research Council [NRC], 2003;Heber et al., 2006aHeber et al., , 2006bJacobson et al., 2008;Hoff et al., 2009). Air pollution and odor nuisance are a major challenge for livestock production (NRC, 2003;Kim et al., 2007;Parker et al., 2012;Cai et al., 20...

Evaluation of Semi-Continuous Pit Manure Recharge System Performance on Mitigation of Ammonia and Hydrogen Sulfide Emissions from a Swine Finishing Barn

“…Measurements require a major investment of resources and time to account for variability. Still, odor and gaseous measurements are confounded by measurement biases and inconsistencies [13,[16][17][18]. Researchers agree that NH 3 and H 2 S are relatively easy to measure in real time and can (to a limited extent) serve as surrogates for the assessment of odor [19].…”

Measurement and assessment of odorous sulfur compounds

“…As a further alternative, bags made of interior fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) film and exterior aluminium foil (metallised FEP) are also a very good option for VSC storage (Zhu et al, 2015b). Zhu et al (2015b) investigated the storability of EtSH and some other VOCs in 1 L metallised FEP bags. These bags had less background contaminants emitted by the material than Tedlar bags (Zhu et al, 2015b).…”

“…Zhu et al (2015b) investigated the storability of EtSH and some other VOCs in 1 L metallised FEP bags. These bags had less background contaminants emitted by the material than Tedlar bags (Zhu et al, 2015b). Other studies by Kuster and Goldan (1987) on the use of FEP film only as the wall of emission flux chambers suggested that the material is good for handling H 2 S, EtSH, dry SO 2 , and marginally good for MeSH (Kuster & Goldan, 1987).…”

Development of Time-Weighted Average Sampling of Odorous Volatile Organic Compounds in Air with Solid-Phase Microextraction Fiber Housed inside a GC Glass Liner: Proof of Concept

“…A short summary of those methods is given in Appendix A. Those methods require specialized equipment [14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21] (cleaning and evacuation of canisters, flushing air sampling bags with ultra-pure air or nitrogen, thermal desorption, air sampling pump) which makes the methods laborious and expensive to work with. Thus, simpler and more reliable methods to quantify VOCs at animal feeding operations are needed.…”