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A simple method to measure the gas‐phase SVOC concentration adjacent to a material surface
Author(s) -
Wu Y.,
Xie M.,
Cox S. S.,
Marr L. C.,
Little J. C.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
indoor air
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.387
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1600-0668
pISSN - 0905-6947
DOI - 10.1111/ina.12270
Subject(s) - thermal desorption , desorption , measure (data warehouse) , materials science , tube (container) , polyvinyl chloride , analytical chemistry (journal) , partition coefficient , environmental science , environmental chemistry , process engineering , chemistry , chromatography , composite material , computer science , adsorption , organic chemistry , database , engineering
Assessing human exposure to semivolatile organic compounds ( SVOC s) emitted from materials and products is difficult because methods are not available to easily measure the key emission parameters. A simple method based on a passive sampling technique was thus developed to measure the gas‐phase SVOC concentration ( y 0 ) immediately adjacent to the material surface in a consumer product. The method employs standard stainless steel thermal desorption tubes, with values of y 0 and an additional unknown parameter, K , the tube surface/air partition coefficient inside the desorption tube, obtained by fitting a diffusion model to the sampling data. Phthalates in two types of polyvinyl chloride flooring were selected to test the method. The values of y 0 and K agree well with those measured in independent chamber tests. The y 0 measurement method is shown to be applicable to chemicals with a wide range of vapor pressures. This novel method should be useful for assessing potential exposure to SVOC s in consumer products as well as for exposure‐based prioritization of chemicals and their associated products in indoor environments.