Science Inventory

Application of passive sorbent tube and canister samplers for volatile organic compounds at refinery fenceline locations in Whiting, Indiana

Citation:

Mukerjee, S., L. Smith, M. Caudill, K. Oliver, W. Whipple, D. Whitaker, AND T. Cousett. Application of passive sorbent tube and canister samplers for volatile organic compounds at refinery fenceline locations in Whiting, Indiana. JOURNAL OF THE AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION. Air & Waste Management Association, Pittsburgh, PA, 68(2):170-175, (2018). https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2017.1400480

Impact/Purpose:

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are air pollutants encountered in urban and industrial areas and are usually associated with emissions from transportation, solvent use, petrochemical facilities, and other anthropogenic sources. Many VOCs are also hazardous air pollutants; for example, benzene is a known carcinogen. Fugitive and other emissions from oil and gas facilities such as refineries are potential sources of VOCs (Thoma et al., 2016). These pollutants are typically measured with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved methods such as time-integrated canister samples (U.S. EPA, 1999a).

Description:

Select volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in ambient air were measured at four fenceline sites at a petroleum refinery in Whiting, Indiana, USA using modified EPA Method 325 A/B with passive tubes and EPA Compendium Method TO-15 with canister samplers. One-week, time-integrated samplers were deployed for eight weeks with tubes and canister samplers deployed in duplicate. Good precision was obtained from the duplicate tubes (< 7%) and duplicate canisters (≤ 10%) for BTEX, perchloroethylene, and styrene. The tubes yielded statistically significantly higher concentrations than canisters for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and m,p-xylene and lower levels for styrene. However, all differences were estimated to be < 0.1 ppbv. No concentration differences among the four Whiting sites were found for any of the VOCs.