| Title: | Environmental sampling of volatile organic compounds during the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California |
| Author(s): | Simms LA; Borras E; Chew BS; Matsui B; McCartney MM; Robinson SK; Kenyon N; Davis CE; |
| Address: | "Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, 2132 Bainer Hall, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, 2132 Bainer Hall, Davis, CA 95616, USA; Institute for Space Research, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Department of Internal Medicine, University of California, Davis, 4150V Street, Suite 3400, Sacramento, CA 95817, USA; VA Northern California Health Care System, 10535 Hospital Way, Mather, CA 95655, USA. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue, 2132 Bainer Hall, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Electronic address: cedavis@ucdavis.edu" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jes.2020.10.003 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1001-0742 (Print) 1001-0742 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Trace analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during wildfires is imperative for environmental and health risk assessment. The use of gas sampling devices mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to chemically sample air during wildfires is of great interest because these devices move freely about their environment, allowing for more representative air samples and the ability to sample areas dangerous or unreachable by humans. This work presents chemical data from air samples obtained in Davis, CA during the most destructive wildfire in California's history - the 2018 Camp Fire - as well as the deployment of our sampling device during a controlled experimental fire while fixed to a UAV. The sampling mechanism was an in-house manufactured micro-gas preconcentrator (microPC) embedded onto a compact battery-operated sampler that was returned to the laboratory for chemical analysis. Compounds commonly observed in wildfires were detected during the Camp Fire using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), including BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, m+p-xylene, and o-xylene), benzaldehyde, 1,4-dichlorobenzene, naphthalene, 1,2,3-trimethylbenzene and 1-ethyl-3-methylbenzene. Concentrations of BTEX were calculated and we observed that benzene and toluene were highest with average concentrations of 4.7 and 15.1 microg/m(3), respectively. Numerous fire-related compounds including BTEX and aldehydes such as octanal and nonanal were detected upon experimental fire ignition, even at a much smaller sampling time compared to samples taken during the Camp Fire. Analysis of the air samples taken both stationary during the Camp Fire and mobile during an experimental fire show the successful operation of our sampler in a fire environment" |
| Keywords: | *Air Pollutants/analysis Benzene California Environmental Monitoring Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Humans Toluene/analysis *Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis Xylenes 2018 Camp Fire Environmental sampling Micro preconcentrators Mobile VOC sampling; |
| Notes: | "MedlineSimms, Leslie A Borras, Eva Chew, Bradley S Matsui, Bruno McCartney, Mitchell M Robinson, Stephen K Kenyon, Nicholas Davis, Cristina E eng U01 EB022003/EB/NIBIB NIH HHS/ P30 ES023513/ES/NIEHS NIH HHS/ UG3 OD023365/OD/NIH HHS/ UL1 TR000002/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/ UH3 OD023365/OD/NIH HHS/ Netherlands 2021/03/22 J Environ Sci (China). 2021 May; 103:135-147. doi: 10.1016/j.jes.2020.10.003. Epub 2020 Nov 6" |
