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DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A METHOD FOR MEASURING EXEMPT VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS AND CARBON DIOXIDE IN CONSUMER PRODUCTS
Citation:
Rickman Jr., E., G. Howe, AND R. Jayanty. DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF A METHOD FOR MEASURING EXEMPT VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS AND CARBON DIOXIDE IN CONSUMER PRODUCTS. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/R-97/004 (NTIS PB97-143143), 1997.
Impact/Purpose:
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Description:
The report describes the development and validation of a method for measuring exempt volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and carbon dioxide in consumer products. (NOTE: Ground-level ozone can cause a variety of adverse health effects as well as agricultural and ecological damage. Controlling emissions of VOCs is important to reducing ground-level ozone; however, not all VOCs are photochemically reactive, and several have been exempted from control regulations. Currently, there is no standard method for measuring the exempt VOC content of consumer products.) The new method involves heating a sample in an oven at 110 C for 1 hour while purging the sample container with nitrogen gas. The resultant mixture of nitrogen and volatile compounds from the sample is then collected in a Tedlar bag and analyzed by gas chromatography with mass selective detection (GC/MSD). An internal standard is added to the sample container to permit quantitation without measurement of the purge gas volume. The method was evaluated by analyzing samples that were spiked with known amounts of the exempt compounds. Recoveries of spiked compounds were excellent, ranging from 86 to 107% for the compounds and products tested. This method should be applicable to other volatile compounds that might be present in consumer products and could be useful in evaluating the risk that these products pose.