5.1 This practice is recommended for use in measuring the concentration of VOCs in ambient, indoor, and workplace atmospheres. It may also be used for measuring emissions from materials in small or full scale environmental chambers for material emission testing or human exposure assessment.
5.2 Such measurements in ambient air are of importance because of the known role of VOCs as ozone precursors, and in some cases (for example, benzene), as toxic pollutants in their own right.
5.3 Such measurements in indoor air are of importance because of the association of VOCs with air quality problems in indoor environments, particularly in relation to sick building syndrome and emissions from building materials. Many volatile organic compounds have the potential to contribute to air quality problems in indoor environments and in some cases toxic VOCs may be present at such elevated concentrations in home or workplace atmospheres as to prompt serious concerns over human exposure and adverse health effects (5).
5.4 Such measurements in workplace air are of importance because of the known toxic effects of many such compounds.
Note 1: While workplace air monitoring has traditionally been carried out using disposable sorbent tubes, typically packed with charcoal and extracted using chemical desorption (solvent extraction) prior to GC analysis – for example following NIOSH and OSHA reference methods – routine thermal desorption (TD) technology was originally developed specifically for this application area. TD overcomes the inherent analyte dilution limitation of solvent extraction improving method detection limits by 2 or 3 orders of magnitude and making methods easier to automate. Relevant international standard methods include ISO 16017-1 and ISO 16017-2. For a detailed history of the development of analytical thermal desorption and a comparison with solvent extraction methods see Ref (6).
5.5 In order to protect the environment as a whole and human health in particular, it is often necessary to take measurements of air quality and assess them in relation to mandatory requirements.
5.6 The choices of sorbents, sampling method, and analytical methodology affect the efficiency of sorption, recovery, and quantification of individual VOCs. This practice is potentially effective for any GC-compatible vapor-phase organic compound found in air, over a wide range of volatilities and concentration levels. However, it is the responsibility of the user to ensure that the sampling, recovery, analysis, and overall quality control of each measurement are within acceptable limits for each specific VOC of interest. Guidance for this evaluation is part of the scope of this practice.
1.1 This practice is intended to assist in the selection of sorbents and procedures for the sampling and analysis of ambient (