Study on the Pollution Characteristic of VOCs in Ambient Air of Chengdu

In this study, the environmental behavior of major VOCs in ambient air were investigated in urban and suburban areas in Chengdu city in the spring of 2012. VOCs samples were collected by sorbent tubes with TENAX TA, and were analyzed by thermal desorption followed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. The most abundant VOCs were aromatic hydrocarbons (58.09%), next in order were alkanes(15.28%), esters(11.27%), aldehydes and ketones(7.64%), acids and heterocyclic compounds(3.39%), olefins(2.96%), alcohols(0.84%), amines(0.35%), ethers(0.17%). Alkanes, alkenes, aromatic hydrocarbons, esters and alcohols had the similar diurnal variation, and their concentration peaks appeared in the morning 08-09; ethers, aldehydes and ketones had similar characteristics of diurnal variation, and their concentration peaks occurred in the afternoon 14-15. This paper provided an overview and some useful information for approaching the composition characteristics, concentration levels and variation in ambient air of Chengdu