You are here:
DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A TEST METHOD FOR ACRYLONITRILE EMISSIONS
Citation:
Fulcher, J., G. Howe, R. Jayanty, AND M. Peterson. DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A TEST METHOD FOR ACRYLONITRILE EMISSIONS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/3-89/022 (NTIS PB89161962), 1989.
Description:
Acrylonitrile (AN) has been identified as a suspected carcinogen and may be regulated in the future as a hazardous air pollutant under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act. A method was validated that utilizes a midget impinger containing methanol for trapping AN vapors followed by a charcoal tube for detecting any AN lost from the impinger. The analysis was performed by capillary gas chromatography with a nitrogen selective detector. The accuracy of the method was determined to be 100 + 4.6% from 11 tests performed in the laboratory covering the range of 10.6 to 1038 ppm AN and 0 to 40% moisture. The overall precision was 3.3%. Field testing of the method was conducted at two different sites. The overall precision of the measured AN concentrations from simultaneous collection of samples at a nominal sampling rate of 50 mL/min over a 1-hour period was determined to be 1.86 and 2.43%, respectively, at the two field test sites. Acrylonitrile in methanol at about 35 ng/uL either with or without inhibitor was found to be stable over a 2-week period. The amount of AN in the charcoal tube samples from both laboratory and field testing was found to be less than 1% of the total amount measured in the impingers.