Optimisation steps of an innovative air sampling method for semi volatile organic compounds

This work describes optimisation steps of an innovative method for the measurement several groups of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in air, collecting both gaseous and particulate air fractions. It is based on active air sampling on sorption tubes (consisting of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and Tenax TA), followed by thermal desorption and gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis (TD–GC–MS). The optimised method was validated in the laboratory for the measurement of selected target compounds from the following chemical classes: polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and phthalate esters (PEs). It was applied in different Belgian urban outdoor as well as indoor environments. The new method is characterised by limits of detection in the range of 0.003–0.3 ng m−3 for PAHs, 0.004–0.2 ng m−3 for PCBs, 0.113–0.201 ng m−3 for PBDEs and 0.002–0.2 ng m−3 for PEs, a linearity of 0.996 and a repeatability of less than 10% for all studied compounds.