BEHAVIOR OF SEVERAL SOLID ADSORBENTS FOR SAMPLING TETRAALKYLLEAD COMPOUNDS IN AIR

The behaviour of various solid adsorbents for collecting tetraalkyllea d compounds has been studied. A synthetic atmosphere containing a know n concentration of tetraethyllead was produced and the tetraethyllead compound was trapped in a glass tube containing the solid adsorbent. T he trapped compound was extracted with hexane in an ultrasonic bath, a nd the resulting solution was analysed by GC-MS. Porapak and Tenax, wi th retention efficiencies of 92 and 96%, respectively, were shown to b e the more efficient at trapping this alkyllead compound than Chromoso rb, active charcoal, Amberlites and polyurethane foam. The behaviour o f both Porapak and Tenax for trapping other tetraalkyllead compounds i n the presence of gasoline vapour was also studied.