A PASSIVE SAMPLER FOR HYDROGEN-SULFIDE

The silver nitrate/fluorescein mercuric acetate fluorimetric method fo r the measurement of atmospheric hydrogen sulfide has been adapted to passive sampling. Standard samplers have been tested and used in both indoor and outdoor environments. Sampler performance was not dependent on construction materials or sunlight intensity and gave similar resu lts to active sampling. Two case studies were carried out, one in the Homiman Museum and its associated storage and study building, London, UK, and the other in the vicinity of a pulp and paper mill and geother mal area North Island, New Zealand. The detection limit of the sampler s (50 ppt average for a one-week exposure) provides the opportunity to make measurements in a variety of locations provided exposure times a re sufficiently long, i.e., up to one month in areas of low hydrogen s ulfide concentration.