Volatile methyl siloxanes (VMS) concentrations in outdoor air of several Catalan urban areas

Abstract

Volatile methyl siloxanes (VMS) were evaluated in ten Catalan urban areas with different industrial impacts, such as petrochemical industry, electrical and mechanical equipment, metallurgical and chemical industries, municipal solid waste treatment plant and cement and food industries, during 2013–2015. 24 h samples were taken with LCMA-UPC pump samplers specially designed in our laboratory, with a flow range of 70 ml min-1. A sorbent-based sampling method, successfully developed to collect a wide-range of VOC, was used. The analysis was performed by automatic thermal desorption coupled with capillary gas chromatography/mass spectrometry detector. The presented methodology allows the evaluation of VMS together with a wide range of other VOC, increasing the number of compounds that can be determined in outdoor air quality assessment of urban areas. This aspect is especially relevant as a restriction of several VMS (D4 and D5) in consumer products has been made by the European Chemicals Agency and US EPA is evaluating to include D4 in the Toxic Substances Control Act, regarding the concern of the possible effects of these compounds in human health and the environment. SVMS concentrations (L2-L5, D3-D6 and trimethylsilanol) varied between 0.3 ± 0.2 µg m-3 and 18 ± 12 µg m-3, determined in a hotspot area. Observed VMS concentrations were generally of the same order of magnitude than the previously determined in Barcelona, Chicago and Zurich urban areas, but higher than the published from suburban sites and Arctic locations. Cyclic siloxanes concentrations were up to two-three orders of magnitude higher than those of linear siloxanes, accounting for average contributions to the total concentrations of 97 ± 6% for all samples except for the hotspot area, where cyclic VMS accounted for 99.9 ± 0.1%. D5 was the most abundant siloxane in 5 sampling points; however, differing from the generally observed in previous studies, D3 was the most abundant compound in the other 5 sampling points.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

US EPA to evaluate cyclic siloxane

“…In Spain, an air monitoring study evaluated outdoor air in ten Catalan urban areas with different industrial impacts (Gallego et al, 2017). Several different sampling campaigns were carried out between 2013 and 2015, collected a total of 271 samples.…”

Outdoor air 1,3-butadiene monitoring: Comparison of performance of Radiello® passive samplers and active multi-sorbent bed tubes

“…Analysis of 1,3-butadiene was performed by automatic thermal desorption coupled with capillary gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TD-GC/MS). TD-GC/MS has been widely used in VOC and 1,3-butadiene analysis (Gallego et al, 2009a(Gallego et al, , 2012(Gallego et al, , 2016(Gallego et al, , 2017(Gallego et al, , 2018. This selective methodology allows good chromatographic separation, and identification and quantification of target analytes through their characteristic mass spectrum and quantification ion, respectively (Ribes et al, 2007).…”

Indoor Air Contaminant Adsorption By Palm Shell Activated Carbon Filter – A Proposed Study

“…AC as an indoor air filter in order to improve indoor air quality and to reduce the cancer risk and non-cancer risk health problem. There are many researchers' studies on increasing the pore development of palm shell activated carbon [8,13,14,[19][20][21][22]. The pore development on activated carbon can be increased by undergoing physical and chemical treatment.…”

“…There are several adsorption media which commercially available or existing in the market such as Activated Carbon Fiber (ACF), Silica gel, zeolite, alumina and Granular Activated Carbon (GAC). According to some literature that the constant temperature and relative humidity in a real building for various condition is may vary significantly between months, seasons and years [12,13]. However, the filter in the market has not been evaluated yet which led to a real VOC contaminant is real building is not recorded [13].…”

“…According to some literature that the constant temperature and relative humidity in a real building for various condition is may vary significantly between months, seasons and years [12,13]. However, the filter in the market has not been evaluated yet which led to a real VOC contaminant is real building is not recorded [13]. One of the technology which effective and reliable for removing impurities is by using activated carbon filter.…”