Characteristics of Atmospheric Methyl Tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE) in Summer in Shenzhen, China

The concentration and distribution features of MTBE in the atmosphere in Shenzhen were studied by analyzing samples which were collected in three consecutive days. In this study, pre-concentrator technology and gas chromatography were used. The result showed that the MTBE could was detected in atmosphere of the Shenzhen, and the range of its concentration was from 0.086 - 1.453μgm-3, including the daily average concentration of 0.662±0.334μgm-3 in industrial area, 0.331±0.216μgm-3 in commercial residential area, 0.258±0.154μgm-3 in tourist area, and 0.158±0.045μgm-3 in background area. The MTBE concentration in industrial area was 2 times of the commercial residential area, 2.6 times of tourist area and 7 times of the background area. These differences were statistically significant (p