Green determination of the presence of volatile organic compounds in vehicle repair shops through passive sampling

A simple, fast and green direct analytical methodology has been developed to evaluate the concentration level of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor areas of vehicle repair shops using membrane devices as passive samplers. VOCs retained in the samplers were directly determined without any sample pre-treatment and avoiding the use of solvents by head space (HS) coupled to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) in only 20 min. Benzene, toluene, tetrachloroethene, m,p-xylene and o-xylene were found at concentration levels from 0.1 to 11.2 mg m−3.