Passive sampling of atmospheric SOCs using tristearin-coated fibreglass sheets

Tristearin-coated fibreglass sheets were evaluated as passive samplers for semivolatile organic chemicals in ambient atmosphere. Kinetic and equilibri um experiments were set-up to independently determine model parameters. The results demonstrate that the tristearin/air partition coefficients (k(SV)) can be related to the octanol/air partition coefficients (k(OA)). Furtherm ore, a linear relationship between the time constant of the clearance kinet ics and k(SV) suggests that uptake of gaseous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarb ons (PAHs) in the sampler was controlled by the air side resistance. A fiel d evaluation of the predictive ability of the sampler was set-up at sites i n Brisbane, Australia and Bayreuth, Germany. The results demonstrated that this novel sampler provides a reproducible means to collect gaseous PAHs in the environment. Furthermore, the results of the field evaluation in Brisb ane are in good agreement with air samples collected with a filter/adsorben t high-volume air sampler at the same sites. In contrast the predicted resu lts obtained from the field evaluation near Bayreuth were less satisfactory . This might be due to sampling artifacts which occurred with the passive s amplers, caused by PAH burdened particles eroded from adjacent needles and leaves. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.