Monitoring effluents from an air toxic control device using continuous nonmethane organic carbon analyzer

Nonmethane organic carbon (NMOC) is a measure of total organic carbon other than methane in an air emission. It is a convenient way of expressing tota l organic emissions in terms of carbon. Development of a continuous NMOC (r eferred to as the C-NMOC) analyzer was recently reported. A microsorbent tr ap called the microtrap is the key component of this instrument. The microt rap selectively concentrates the organic compounds and then desorbs them as an injection pulse for NMOC detection. The process of concentration and in jection is quite fast, and the analysis can be carried out every few second s to every few minutes, The characteristics of this instrument as applied t o on-line monitoring are presented in this article. Its applicability is de monstrated by monitoring emissions from an air toxic control device. The in strument performed well with the oxygenated, chlorinated, aliphatic, and ar omatic hydrocarbons in this study. The instrument also demonstrated linear response and high sensitivity.