J. Begerow et al., Performance of two different types of passive samplers for the GC/ECD-FID determination of environmental VOC levels in air, FRESEN J AN, 363(4), 1999, pp. 399-403
Two types of passive samplers differing in their geometry (OVM 3500 by 3M,
ORSA 5 by Drager) were compared with respect to their suitability for typic
al environmental indoor and outdoor VOC concentrations. Benzene, toluene, o
-, m-, p-xylene, ethylbenzene, tetrachloroethene, trichloroethene, nonane a
nd ethyl acetate were representatively analyzed by dual-column capillary ga
s chromatography with tandem ECD-FID detection. There was a good correlatio
n between the results obtained with OVM 3500 and ORSA 5 monitors indicating
that both monitors can be used for this kind of application. The ratio bet
ween the results for indoor air sampling with OVM 3500 and ORSA 5 monitors
was between 0.89 and 1.14 showing no systematic variation. For outdoor air
sampling the ratio was between 1.06 and 1.26 indicating that the results ob
tained with OVM 3500 monitors were slightly higher. Reproducibility was sli
ghtly better when using ORSA 5 monitors. But, due to the higher sampling ra
tes which are a result of the larger cross-sectional area, signal-to-noise
ratios obtained with OVM 3500 monitors were between six to nine times highe
r than those of ORSA 5 samplers. Blank values of the unexposed sam piers we
re comparable for both sampler types. As a consequence, detection limits we
re by a factor of 1.5 to 4 better for OVM 3500 monitors.