A Flow-Through Sampler for Semivolatile Organic Compounds in Air

A widely acknowledged limitation of current passive air sampling designs for semivolatile organic chemicals is their relatively low sampling rate, severely constraining the temporal resolution that can be achieved. Addressing the need for an improved sampling design which achieves significantly faster uptake while maintaining the capability of providing quantitative information, a new sampler has been developed that provides greatly increased sampling rates by forcing the wind to blow through the sampling medium. The sampler consists of a horizontally oriented, aerodynamically shaped, stainless steel flow tube mounted on a post with ball bearings, which turns into the wind with the help of vanes. A series of polyurethane foam (PUF) discs with relatively large porosity mounted inside the flow tube serve as the sampling medium. The sampled air volume is calculated from wind speed, which is measured outside the sampler and after passage through the sampling medium using precalibrated vortex rotor and turbine anemometers mounted on top of the sampler and at the exit of the flow tube, respectively. Small battery-operated data loggers are used for data storage. Under typical wind speed conditions, the sampler can collect 100 m3/day, which is approaching the sampling rates of conventional high volume samplers. Controlled experiments in the laboratory and frontal chromatography theory yield the theoretical plate number and breakthrough volumes for polychlorinated biphenyls and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the PUF plugs and allow for the estimation of breakthrough levels for relatively volatile organic chemicals. After correction for breakthrough, the air concentration obtained with the new flow-through sampler are independent of sampling length and volume and compare favorably with those obtained from conventional pumped high volume samples.