Case Study airmoPAH for PAH measurement in ambient air0 pages

Case Study N°AA8 – Ambient air monitoring – airmoPAH – updated:29.10.15

Case Study
Ambient Air Monitoring Applications

Ambient air and emissions monitoring of Polycyclic Aromatic
Hydrocarbons – airmoC10-C20+

Context & Challenges
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of over 100 different chemicals that are known to be
formed typically during incomplete combustion of organic matter at high temperature. Their major sources in the
atmosphere include industrial processes, vehicle exhausts, waste incinerations, and domestic heating emissions.
Due to their carcinogenic/mutagenic effects, 16 PAHs are currently listed as priority air pollutants.

Chromatotec® Solutions
Actual analytical methods dedicated to monitor PAHs require multistep sampling preparations and are not suited
for continuous monitoring. Automatic Thermal Desorption-Gas chromatography equipped with flame ionization
detector (AUTO-TD-GC-FID) is the standard method for the monitoring of volatile and semi-volatile hydrocarbons.
This technique allows for identifying and quantifying continuously hydrocarbons from ethane to naphthalene. The
main goal of this work is to implement a new and simple method for sampling and determination of PAHs in gas
and solid phase in air by using thermal desorption technique
followed by gas chromatography equipped with two detectors: a
flame ionization detector and a Mass spectrometer.
A detailed study was carried out to optimize the experimental
method in each of its phases, including sampling, thermal
desorption, analytical separation, and detection. First, the limits of
use of the analytical system were determined during the laboratory
phase using liquid standards of the 16 PAHs.

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