Characterization and analysis of diesel exhaust odor

An analytical method was developed to determine which compound or compounds in the oxygenated fraction of diesel exhaust were changing in intensity and number with respect to the odor correlation between human sensory panels and diesel exhaust samples as developed at Arthur D. Little, Inc. A sample fractionation with silica Sep-Pak cartridges and gas chromatography analysis procedures were developed to analyze exhaust odor samples. By use of a chromatographic computer profiling method, correlations were developed indicating a linear relation between log (odor intensity) and log (concentration) of specific character impact peaks (which may or may not be odorous themselves). Excellent correlations were obtained with the character impact peaks identified as benzaldehyde and a methylbenzaldehyde isomer in this study. Correlation coefficients of 0.97 and 0.90, respectively, were obtained for the sample set. 17 references, 5 figures, 2 tables.