Development of a Comprehensive Monitoring Method for Environmental Persistent Organic Pollutants by Using Semi-active Air Sampling/Thermal Desorption Analysis

Abstract

A method combined with sampling technology using a semi-active air sampler (SAAS) that uses PDMS as the collection material and analysis by TD-GC × GC-HRToFMS was developed for the purpose of implementing countermeasures against chemical substances remaining in the atmosphere, and the collection characteristics and applicability of persistent organic pollutants in the atmosphere by the developed method was evaluated. SAAS is small, light, easy to carry, and can be driven by dry batteries for 2 weeks, so there are few restrictions on the sampling location. It is also cheaper than the traditional high volume air sampler (HVAS) and has excellent versatility, such as observations at multiple points. Furthermore, unlike a passive sampler, the sampling flow rate can be calculated, so it is thought that the concentration can be estimated by validating applicable compounds. In this study, air sampling was performed at National Institute for Environmental Studies by SAAS using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and by conventional HVAS. The concentrations of organohalogen compound obtained by two sampling techniques were compared. As a result, although it was difficult to collect compounds with high vapor pressure such as pentachlorobenzene with the SAAS using PDMS, it could be applied to compounds with the vapor pressure of PCBs from nonachlor. In the future, collecting agents other than PDMS will be considered, and we would like to build a system that can handle a wide range of physical properties by combining multiple collecting agents.