Development of a Battery-powered Automatic Switching Device for VOC Passive Samplers

Abstract

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are important precursors of ozone and secondary aerosol particles in the atmosphere. We developed a battery-powered VOC passive automatic sampler (VPAS) switching device that can automatically expose and store passive VOCs solvent desorption (VOC-SD) samplers. The device can hold eight samplers at any one time. The exposure time is programmable from 1 to 99 h. A strong linear relationship was observed between the mass of the VOCs collected in the VOC-SD samplers and the product of the exposure time and atmospheric concentration (as measured by the analysis of the canister samples). The uptake rates obtained from the relationship were similar to those reported in previous studies. The VPAS will be useful in air-quality research, particularly for determining VOC sources, and will enable the measurement of VOC concentrations in remote areas where commercial alternating-current power is not available.