Zebra GC: a mini gas chromatography system for trace-level determination of hazardous air pollutants

Details

• Personal Author:
  Agah M ; Akbar M ; Garg, Arun ; Marr LC ; Narayanan S ; Nazhandali L ; Vejerano E
• Description:
  A ready-to-deploy implementation of a microfabricated gas chromatography (µGC) system characterized for detecting hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) at parts-per-billion (ppb) concentrations in complex mixtures has been described. A microfabricated preconcentrator (µPC), MEMS separation column with on-chip thermal conductivity detector (µSC-TCD), flow controller unit, and all necessary flow and thermal management as well as user interface circuitry are integrated to realize a fully functional µGC system. The work reports extensive characterization of µPC and µSC-TCD for target analytes: benzene, toluene, tetrachloroethylene, chlorobenzene, ethylbenzene, and p-xylene. A Limit of Detection (LOD) of approximately 1 ng was achieved, which corresponds to a sampling time of 10 min at a flow rate of 1 mL/min for an analyte present at approximately 25 ppbv. An innovative method using flow-manipulation generated sharp injection plugs from the µPC even in the presence of a flow-sensitive detector like a µTCD. The µGC system is compared against conventional automated thermal desorption-gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (ATD-GC-FID) system for real gasoline samples in simulated car refueling scenario. The µGC system detected five peaks, including three of the target analytes and required approximately 3 orders of magnitude lower sample volume as compared to the conventional system. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution Air Pollution, Indoor Environmental Exposure Environmental Monitoring Environmental Pollution Occupational Health Risk Assessment Risk Factors Safety
• Keywords:
  Air-quality Author Keywords: Micro Gas Chromatography Environmental-exposure Environmental-pollution Environmental Monitoring Exposure-levels Gas-chromatography Hazardous Air Pollutants Hazards Monitoring-systems Monitors Pollutants Risk-factors

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• ISSN:
  0925-4005
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 3 ; Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  145-154
• Volume:
  212
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20047186
• Citation:
  Sens Actuators B Chem 2015 Jun; 212:145-154
• Contact Point Address:
  Masoud Agah, VT MEMS Lab, Bradley Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061
• Email:
  agah@vt.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Benzene (CAS RN 71-43-2) ; Chlorobenzene (CAS RN 108-90-7) ; Ethylbenzene (CAS RN 100-41-4) ; p-Xylene (CAS RN 106-42-3) ; Tetrachloroethylene (CAS RN 127-18-4) ; Toluene (CAS RN 108-88-3)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2015
• Performing Organization:
  Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20120701
• Source Full Name:
  Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical
• End Date:
  20150630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b7bdf608ae54ba501c4b70e849bc541a728e7640404f169e84ff923212c424b73de20e0249de570318777f1f023fbf4dd604f6570bedb27ef446cf27e6923e06
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/202348/cdc_202348_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 2.11 MB ]