U.S. flag An official website of the United States government.
Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

i

Belt-Mounted Micro-Gas-Chromatograph Prototype for Determining Personal Exposures to Volatile-Organic-Compound Mixture Components



Details

  • Personal Author:
  • Description:
    We describe a belt-mountable prototype instrument containing a gas chromatographic microsystem (uGC) and demonstrate its capability for near-real-time recognition and quantification of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in moderately complex mixtures at concentrations encountered in industrial workplace environments. The uGC comprises three discrete, Si/Pyrex microfabricated chips: a dual-adsorbent micropreconcentrator-focuser for VOC capture and injection; a wall-coated microcolumn with thin-metal heaters and temperature sensors for temperature-programmed separations; and an array of four microchemiresistors with thiolate-monolayer-protected-Au-nanoparticle interface films for detection and recognition-discrimination. The battery-powered uGC prototype (20 × 15 × 9 cm, approximately 2.1 kg sans battery) has on-board microcontrollers and can autonomously analyze the components of a given VOC mixture several times per hour. Calibration curves bracketing the Threshold Limit Value (TLV) of each VOC yielded detection limits of 16-600 parts-per-billion for air samples of 5-10 mL, well below respective TLVs. A 2:1 injection split improved the resolution of early eluting compounds by up to 63%. Responses and response patterns were stable for 5 days. Use of retention-time windows facilitated the chemometric recognition and discrimination of the components of a 21-VOC mixture sampled and analyzed in 3.5 min. Results from a "mock" field test, in which personal exposures to time-varying concentrations of a mixture of five VOCs were measured autonomously, agreed closely with those from a reference GC. Thus, reliable, near-real-time determinations of worker exposures to multiple VOCs with this wearable uGC prototype appear feasible. [Description provided by NIOSH]
  • Subjects:
  • Keywords:
  • ISSN:
    0003-2700
  • Document Type:
    Text
  • Funding:
    Grant
  • Genre:
    Journal Article
  • Place as Subject:
  • CIO:
    National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
  • Topic:
    Workplace Safety & Health
  • Location:
    North America
  • Volume:
    91
  • Issue:
    7
  • NIOSHTIC Number:
    nn:20055723
  • Citation:
    Anal Chem 2019 Apr; 91(7):4747-4754
  • Contact Point Address:
    Edward T. Zellers, Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, United States
  • Email:
    ezellers@umich.edu
  • Federal Fiscal Year:
    2019
  • Performing Organization:
    University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
  • Peer Reviewed:
    True
  • Start Date:
    20130901
  • Source Full Name:
    Analytical Chemistry
  • End Date:
    20170831
  • Collection(s):
  • Main Document Checksum:
    urn:sha-512:3dfd97f665916ad237879fa2acc1ca70e8d5ff6d0208cda0f8e77c18fa2d1ca6ad9fe2431e40ead77fbbb01d3a1b526ef06df6e16954b8dc6442cd46b8115894
  • Download URL:
  • File Type:
    Filetype[PDF - 2.52 MB ]
PREVIOUS
ON THIS PAGE
Details
CDC STACKS serves as an archival repository of CDC-published products including scientific findings, journal articles, guidelines, recommendations, or other public health information authored or co-authored by CDC or funded partners.

As a repository, CDC STACKS retains documents in their original published format to ensure public access to scientific information.
BACK TO TOP