Title: | Volatile organic compounds in air at urban and industrial areas in the Tarragona region by thermal desorption and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry |
Author(s): | Ras MR; Marce RM; Borrull F; |
Address: | "Departament de Quimica Analitica i Quimica Organica, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Campus Sescelades, Marcel.li Domingo, s/n, 43007, Tarragona, Spain" |
DOI: | 10.1007/s10661-009-0755-6 |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1573-2959 (Electronic) 0167-6369 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "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" |
Keywords: | Air Pollutants/*analysis Environmental Monitoring/*methods Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry/*methods Pentanes/analysis Spain Volatile Organic Compounds/*analysis Xylenes/analysis; |
Notes: | "MedlineRas, Maria Rosa Marce, Rosa Maria Borrull, Francesc eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Netherlands 2009/02/25 Environ Monit Assess. 2010 Feb; 161(1-4):389-402. doi: 10.1007/s10661-009-0755-6. Epub 2009 Feb 24" |