Application of Passive Samplers in Monitoring of Organic Constituents of Air

A novel sampling technique for monitoring atmospheric methane concentrations: A case study with livestock sources

The substantial increase in the presence of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere has led to the development of several sampling techniques to quantify and characterize the sources of high global warming potential gas emissions. In this context, we developed a new method to estimate the time-averaged concentration of atmospheric methane that employs a long hose to collect a sample of gas by diffusion through one of its ends. We performed numerical simulations to illustrate the basis of our method and to determine the numerical factors required to estimate the time-averaged concentration of methane. This novel technique for estimating the mean gas concentration was then validated with two sets of experiments, where the source of methane was ruminant enteric fermentation measured in a respiration chamber. We compared the time-averaged methane concentration obtained with our methodology for periods (T) ranging from 1 to 4 days with those measured using the sensor of a respiration chamber. We found that the accuracy of the estimates improved as T increased from an error of 20 % for T = 1 to an error smaller than 10 % for T ≥ 2 days. In additional tests, and as suggested by numerical simulations, we confirmed that measuring and employing the methane concentration in the furthest half of the collector leads to a more precise estimation of atmospheric concentration than when the concentration of the entire collector is considered. This work demonstrates that the new methodology for air sampling, in conjunction with numerical analysis, is a viable alternative for quantifying atmospheric methane concentrations. In addition, the simple design of the devices showed remarkable benefits in terms of both the cost and simplicity for implementing large-scale individual sampling. We discuss its potential application to other GHGs.

Sampling Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from Consumer Products: A Review

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are common constituents of many consumer products. Although many VOCs are generally considered harmless at low concentrations, some compound classes represent substances of concern in relation to human (inhalation) exposure and can elicit adverse health effects, especially when concentrations build up, such as in indoor settings. Determining VOC emissions from consumer products, such as toys, utensils or decorative articles, is of utmost importance to enable the assessment of inhalation exposure under real-world scenarios with respect to consumer safety. Due to the diverse sizes and shapes of such products, as well as their differing uses, a one-size-fits-all approach for measuring VOC emissions is not possible, thus, sampling procedures must be chosen carefully to best suit the sample under investigation. This review outlines the different sampling approaches for characterizing VOC emissions from consumer products, including headspace and emission test chamber methods. The advantages and disadvantages of each sampling technique are discussed in relation to their time and cost efficiency, as well as their suitability to realistically assess VOC inhalation exposures.

Trace gas emissions from municipal solid waste landfills: A review

Trace gas emissions from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills have received increasing attention in recent years. This paper reviews literature published between 1983 and 2019, focusing on (i) the origin and fate of trace gas in MSW landfills, (ii) sampling and analytical techniques, (iii) quantitative emission measurement techniques, (iv) concentration and surface emission rates of common trace compounds at different landfill units and (v) the environmental and health concerns associated with trace gas emissions from MSW landfills. Trace gases can be produced from waste degradation, direct volatilisation of chemicals in waste products or from conversions/reactions between other compounds. Different chemical groups dominate the different waste decomposition stages. In general, organic sulphur compounds and oxygenated compounds are connected with fresh waste, while abundant hydrogen sulphide, aromatics and aliphatic hydrocarbons are usually found during the methane fermentation stage. Selection of different sampling, analytical and emission rate measurement techniques might generate different results when quantifying trace gas emission from landfills, and validation tests are needed to evaluate the reliability of current methods. The concentrations of trace gases and their surface emission rates vary largely from site to site, and fresh waste dumping areas and uncovered waste surfaces are the most important fugitive emission sources. The adverse effects of trace gas emission are not fully understood, and more emission data are required in future studies to assess quantitatively their environmental impacts as well as health risks.

Passive air sampling for semi-volatile organic chemicals

During passive air sampling, the amount of a chemical taken up in a sorbent from the air without the help of a pump is quantified and converted into an air concentration. In an equilibrium sampler, this conversion requires a thermodynamic parameter, the equilibrium sorption coefficient between gas-phase and sorbent. In a kinetic sampler, a time-averaged air concentration is obtained using a sampling rate, which is a kinetic parameter. Design requirements for kinetic and equilibrium sampling conflict with each other. The volatility of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) varies over five orders of magnitude, which implies that passive air samplers are inevitably kinetic samplers for less volatile SVOCs and equilibrium samplers for more volatile SVOCs. Therefore, most currently used passive sampler designs for SVOCs are a compromise that requires the consideration of both a thermodynamic and a kinetic parameter. Their quantitative interpretation depends on assumptions that are rarely fulfilled, and on input parameters, that are often only known with high uncertainty. Kinetic passive air sampling for SVOCs is also challenging because their typically very low atmospheric concentrations necessitate relatively high sampling rates that can only be achieved without the use of diffusive barriers. This in turn renders sampling rates dependent on wind conditions and therefore highly variable. Despite the overall high uncertainty arising from these challenges, passive air samplers for SVOCs have valuable roles to play in recording (i) spatial concentration variability at scales ranging from a few centimeters to tens of thousands of kilometers, (ii) long-term trends, (iii) air contamination in remote and inaccessible locations and (iv) indoor inhalation exposure. Going forward, thermal desorption of sorbents may lower the detection limits for some SVOCs to an extent that the use of diffusive barriers in the kinetic sampling of SVOCs becomes feasible, which is a prerequisite to decreasing the uncertainty of sampling rates. If the thermally stable sorbent additionally has a high sorptive capacity, it may be possible to design true kinetic samplers for most SVOCs. In the meantime, the passive air sampling community would benefit from being more transparent by rigorously quantifying and explicitly reporting uncertainty.

Source apportionment of biogenic and anthropogenic VOCs in Bolu plateau

Total of 69 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including both biogenic (isoprene, monoterpenes and oxygenated compounds) and anthropogenic ones were investigated in Bolu plateau by passive sampling technique. The main objective of this study was to determine spatial distributions, seasonal variations and possible sources for a wide variety of VOCs. Two-week passive sampling campaigns were performed in the winter and summer of 2017. Anthropogenic VOCs were predominant with a high percentage of contribution, 91% and 69% for winter and summer, respectively. Relatively higher concentrations of biogenic VOCs during the summer campaign were found to be related to higher solar intensity, temperature and amount of broad-leaved tree species. Benzaldehyde, toluene, phenol, benzene, hexane, decanal, benzothiazole, dodecane and acetophenone were anthropogenic VOCs with higher concentrations. Among biogenic VOCs, hexanal, alpha-pinene and limonene were found to be in higher concentrations. Spatial distribution maps were drawn for each VOC. Elevated concentrations of VOCs around the city center and major roads indicate that emissions from domestic heating activities and vehicular emissions can be significant sources of VOCs. The results were also supported by Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) analyses and G-score distribution maps. Solvent evaporation, wood-coal combustion, biogenic emissions (pine, grain, grass), city atmosphere (styrene emissions from plastic production), biogenic (hornbeam, pine, juniper) and vehicle emissions were the identified as the primary VOC sources in Bolu plateau, contributing 31%, 22%, 8.0%, 8.0%, 13%, and 18%, respectively to the total VOC concentrations.

Inverse Problem Optimization Method to Design Passive Samplers for Volatile Organic Compounds: Principle and Application

Passive sampling is an alternative to active sampling for measuring concentrations of gas-phase volatile organic compounds (VOCs). However, the uncertainty or relative error of the measurements have not been minimized due to the limitations of existing design methods. In this paper, we have developed a novel method, the inverse problem optimization method, to address the problems associated with designing accurate passive samplers. The principle is to determine the most appropriate physical properties of the materials, and the optimal geometry of a passive sampler, by minimizing the relative sampling error based on the mass transfer model of VOCs for a passive sampler. As an example application, we used our proposed method to optimize radial passive samplers for the sampling of benzene and formaldehyde in a normal indoor environment. A new passive sampler, which we have called the Tsinghua Passive Diffusive Sampler (THPDS), for indoor benzene measurement was developed according to the optimized results. Silica zeolite was selected as the sorbent for the THPDS. The measured overall uncertainty of THPDS (22% for benzene) is lower than that of most commercially available passive samplers but is quite a bit larger than the modeled uncertainty (4.8% for benzene, the optimized result), suggesting that further research is required.

Spatial analysis of volatile organic compounds in South Philadelphia using passive samplers

Select volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were measured in the vicinity of a petroleum refinery and related operations in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, using passive air sampling and laboratory analysis methods. Two-week, time-integrated samplers were deployed at 17 sites, which were aggregated into five site groups of varying distances from the refinery. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene isomers (BTEX) and styrene concentrations were higher near the refinery's fenceline than for groups at the refinery's south edge, mid-distance, and farther removed locations. The near fenceline group was significantly higher than the refinery's north edge group for benzene and toluene but not for ethylbenzene or xylene isomers; styrene was lower at the near fenceline group versus the north edge group. For BTEX and styrene, the magnitude of estimated differences generally increased when proceeding through groups ever farther away from the petroleum refining. Perchloroethylene results were not suggestive of an influence from refining. These results suggest that emissions from the refinery complex contribute to higher concentrations of BTEX species and styrene in the vicinity of the plant, with this influence declining as distance from the petroleum refining increases.

IMPLICATIONS

Passive sampling methodology for VOCs as discussed here is employed in recently enacted U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Methods 325A/B for determination of benzene concentrations at refinery fenceline locations. Spatial gradients of VOC concentration near the refinery fenceline were discerned in an area containing traffic and other VOC-related sources. Though limited, these findings can be useful in application of the method at such facilities to ascertain source influence.

Development of needle trap technology for on-site determinations: active and passive sampling

This study presents a thorough evaluation of new prototypes of extended tip needle trap devices (NT), as well as their application to in situ sampling of biological emissions and active/passive on-site sampling of indoor air. A new NT prototype was constructed with a side hole above the sorbent and an extended tip that fits inside the restriction of the narrow neck liner to increase desorption efficiency. New prototype needles were initially packed with divinylbenzene particles at SGE Analytical Science for the purpose of studying biogenic emissions of pine trees. Prior to their final application, they were evaluated in terms of robustness after multiple use (n > 10), as well as amount extracted of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). An ANOVA test for all the probes showed that at a 95% level of confidence, there were not statistical differences observed among the 9 NTs tested. In addition, the needles were also packed in laboratory with synthesized highly cross-linked PDMS as a frit to immobilize carboxen (Car) particles for spot sampling. For passive sampling, the needles were packed with Car particles embedded in PDMS to simplify calculations in passive mode. The use of NTs as spot samplers, as well as a passive sampler under controlled conditions in the laboratoryyielded a relative standard deviation of less than 15%. Finally, a new, reusable and readily deployable penlike diffusive sampler for needle traps (PDS-NT) was built and tested. Application of the PDS-NT in combination with NT-spot sampling toward the analysis of indoor air in a polymer synthesis laboratory showed good agreement between both techniques for the analyte studied, yielding averages of 0.03 and 0.025 ng/mL of toluene, respectively.

A comparative study of the performance of passive samplers

Atmospheric concentrations of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (o-xylene and m,p-xylene) were assessed in the Tricity area (Gdańsk-Sopot-Gdynia, Poland) with the use of two types of passive samplers: permeation (homemade passive samplers) and diffusive (Radiello and Orsa 5). Samples were collected during 2008 at selected sites in the Tricity area at monitoring stations belonging to the agency of Regional Air Quality Monitoring Foundation. The field study was conducted to compare the performance of these two different types of passive samplers. A statistical approach was formulated, and the experimental data were evaluated using the paired t test, Wilcoxon signed rank-sum test, and Friedman analysis of variance. All the statistical results confirm the hypothesis that the differences between the performances of the three sampling devices are highly significant. Despite the fact that data obtained with the homemade passive sampler indicated that the results were higher compared with those for the Radiello and Orsa 5 diffusive samplers, the authors note that all differences between the homemade permeation sampler and the Radiello and Orsa 5 diffusive samplers are positive.

Porous silica spheres as indoor air pollutant scavengers

Porous silica spheres were investigated for their effectiveness in removing typical indoor air pollutants, such as aromatic and carbonyl-containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and compared to the commercially available polymer styrene-divinylbenzene (XAD-4). The silica spheres and the XAD-4 resin were coated on denuder sampling devices and their adsorption efficiencies for VOCs evaluated using an indoor air simulation chamber. Real indoor sampling was also undertaken to evaluate the affinity of the silica adsorbents for a variety of indoor VOCs. The silica sphere adsorbents were found to have a high affinity for polar carbonyls and found to be more efficient than the XAD-4 resin at adsorbing carbonyls in an indoor environment.

Volatile organic compounds in air at urban and industrial areas in the Tarragona region by thermal desorption and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Annual trends of a group of 66 volatile organic compounds (VOCs), containing 20 ozone precursors, were the aim of a sampling campaign carried out for a year in air at urban and industrial areas from Tarragona region. VOCs were determined by active collection on multisorbent tubes, followed by thermal desorption and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The analytical method was developed and validated, showing good levels of detection and quantification, recoveries, precision, and linearity for all the compounds in the range being studied. All the industrial and urban samples taken during the sampling campaign were similar in their qualitative composition. The most abundant compound in all urban and industrial sites was i-pentane, with concentrations between 15.2 and 202.1 microg m(-3) in urban sites and between 1.3 and 98.6 microg m(-3) in industrial sites. In urban sites, the following compounds in order of abundance were toluene, n-pentane, m,p-xylene, and o-xylene, with maximum levels of 150.6, 45.8, 42.3, and 31.7 microg m(-3), respectively. In industrial sites, the most abundant compounds depended on the sampled site.

Passive sampling as a tool for obtaining reliable analytical information in environmental quality monitoring

Passive sampling technology has been developing very quickly for the past 20 years, and is widely used for monitoring pollutants in different environments, for example air, water, and soil. It has many significant advantages, including simplicity, low cost, no need for expensive and complicated equipment, no power requirements, unattended operation, and the ability to produce accurate results. The present generation of passive samplers enables detection and analysis of bioavailable pollutants at low and very low concentrations and investigation of the environmental concentration of organic and inorganic pollutants not only on the local scale but also on continental and global scales. This review describes the current application of passive sampling techniques in environmental analysis and monitoring, under both equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions.

Calculation of passive sampling rates from both native PCBs and depuration compounds in indoor and outdoor environments

Passive sampling has become a practical way of sampling persistent organic pollutants over large spatial and remote areas; however, its ease in use is also coupled with some uncertainty in calculating air concentrations from accumulated mass. Here we report a comparison study of polyurethane-foam-based passive samplers (PUF-PAS) for quantitatively determining the sampling rates of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from air. We measured both uptake of native PCBs and loss of depuration compounds and determined the sampling rates (R-values) for multiple samplers harvested at three different time periods. The uptake of native PCBs in the linear phase was similar to the loss of depuration compounds for indoor air and behaved as predicted. A single R-value of 2.6m(3)d(-1) was calculated from the mean of 12 samplers deployed indoors from three harvest dates with a range of 2.0-3.4m(3)d(-1) for both uptake of native PCBs and loss of depuration compounds. Loss of depuration compounds in outdoor air also followed the predicted linear behavior with a range of calculated R-value of 4.4-8.4m(3)d(-1). Uptake of native PCBs behavior was extremely variable, probably due to changes in ambient air concentrations and resulted in R-values of 1.6-11.5m(3)d(-1) with greater variation seen in higher chlorinated homolog groups.

Passive sampling in environmental analysis

Since its invention more than three decades ago, passive sampling technology has been widely used for environmental monitoring throughout the world. In many cases, it is the only practical means of determining pollution levels caused by numerous anthropogenic chemicals. Passive sampling technology today is used in various areas ranging from workplace exposure monitoring to global issues of climate change arising due to the presence of various chemicals in the atmosphere. In this review, the present status of the technology and its applications will be discussed along with aspects related to its regulatory acceptance and recent trends.