Applicability of Carbon-based Adsorption Tubes for the Analysis of VOC and Phthalates in Indoor Air

Abstract

Carbon-based adsorbents are rarely used to measure volatile organic compounds (VOC) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOC) in indoor air. Herein, Tenax GR and spherical activated carbon-filled glass tubes were assessed for their applicability to VOC and phthalate (SVOC) analyses via heat desorption and solvent extraction, respectively. Recovery and stability tests were conducted for VOC and satisfactory results were obtained. A method for extraction and recovery of phthalates using commercially available spherical activated carbon-filled glass tubes for VOC measurement was investigated and a method with good recovery rate was developed. Parallel measurements were conducted using the present method and a method using a styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer, the official method for phthalates standardized by ISO 16000-33. The quantification results were generally in agreement. These results show that the carbon-based adsorbent tubes are useful for VOC and phthalate analysis.