Development of a portable GC/MS analyzer and direct interface sampling system for volatile organic pollutants

This paper briefly reviews US Environmental Protection Agency Methods for measuring volatile organic compounds in stationary source effluent, and describes a field portable gas chromatography/mass spectrometer (GC/MS) for sampling ambient air and stationary source effluent. The instrumentation consists of a service module and an analytical module, each weighing approximately 30 pounds. An onboard computer and software facilitate implementation of the analytical method, which was developed specifically 37 volatile organics listed as hazardous air pollutants in Title III of the Clean Air Act Amentments. Analytes can be detected and quantified over a 50 ppb to 1000 ppm range.