Preparation of needle trap samplers to extract air compounds from indoor electric-vaporizing sources

Abstract

UNLABELLED: In this study, gaseous benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and o-xylene (BTEX) were extracted by passive needle trap samplers (NTS) using divinylbenzene (DVB) particles (mesh sizes 60-80, 80-100, and 100-120, respectively) as packed sorbents. An aspirating pump measured sampling flow rates of NTS, and the relations between BTEX mass and sampling flow rates were sufficient to maintain the extraction performance of these self-designed DVB-NTS. Furthermore, this investigation compared the extraction efficiency of NTS with that of the 100-microm polydimethylsiloxane solid-phase microextration (PDMS SPME) fiber when applied to sample heating products from electric-vaporization anti-mosquito mats, and the experimental results indicated that NTS effectiveness increased with decreasing adsorbent particle diameter. Substantially less mass of gaseous BTEX was extracted using 100-microm PDMS SPME fiber than with NTS of 100-120 mesh DVB for 60-min TWA sampling of anti-mosquito mats. The 100-120 mesh DVB-NTS primarily adsorbed 4.2 ng acetone, 13.3 ng dichloromethane, and 4.5-25.3 ng C10-C12 alkanes. IMPLICATIONS: The needle trap sampler (NTS) has been evaluated to be a device for sampling heating products from electric-vaporization anti-mosquito mats. Based on the experimental results, this investigation assessed NTS as suitable for occupational and environmental health applications.