Apparent reaction products desorbed from Tenax used to sample ambient air

Abstract Ambient air was sampled using distributed air volume sets of tandem Tenax beds. In situ estimates of retention volumes were made and sometimes found to differ greatly from literature values. Inconsistent sets of apparent concentrations not due to contamination, operating errors or blanks were often observed. Unidentified chemical reactions during sampling and/or thermal desorption are implicated. It is concluded that empirical evaluation of data from Tenax sampling of ambient air is warranted in each sampling situation.