Quantitative Analysis of Indoor Gaseous Semi-Volatile Organic Compounds Using Solid-Phase Microextraction: Active Sampling and Calibration

Abstract

Semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) are important pollutants in indoor environments. Quantification of gaseous SVOC concentrations is essential to assess the pollution levels. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is considered to be an attractive sampling technique with merits, including simplicity of use, rapid sampling, and solvent free. However, the applications of SPME for sampling gaseous SVOCs are often limited by the fluctuating velocity of indoor air (leading to an unstable sampling rate) and the uncertainties associated with the traditional calibration of SPME. Therefore, we established an SPME-based active sampler to ensure the stable sampling of SVOCs in fluctuating air and developed a two-step calibration method based on the sampling principle of SPME. The presented method and a traditional method (sorbent tubes packed with Tenax TA) were simultaneously used to measure SVOC concentrations in an airstream generated in experiments. Three typical indoor SVOCs, diisobutyl phthalate (DiBP), tris (1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCPP), and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBzP) were chosen as the analytes. Mean concentrations measured by SPME agreed well with the sorbent tubes (relative deviations <12%), supporting the feasibility of the presented method. Further studies are expected to facilitate the application of the presented method (especially the problem associated with the sampling-tube loss of low volatile SVOCs).

Keywords

• indoor air quality
• semi-volatile organic compounds
• solid-phase microextraction
• active sampling
• gas-phase concentration
• chemical analysis