Passive sampling of atmospheric SOCs using tristearin-coated fibreglass sheets

Tristearin-coated fibreglass sheets were evaluated as passive samplers for semivolatile organic chemicals in ambient atmosphere. Kinetic and equilibrium experiments were set-up to independently determine model parameters. The results demonstrate that the tristearin/air partition coefficients (KSV) can be related to the octanol/air partition coefficients (KOA). Furthermore, a linear relationship between the time constant of the clearance kinetics and KSV suggests that uptake of gaseous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the sampler was controlled by the air side resistance. A field evaluation of the predictive ability of the sampler was set-up at sites in Brisbane, Australia and Bayreuth, Germany. The results demonstrated that this novel sampler provides a reproducible means to collect gaseous PAHs in the environment. Furthermore, the results of the field evaluation in Brisbane are in good agreement with air samples collected with a filter/adsorbent high-volume air sampler at the same sites. In contrast the predicted results obtained from the field evaluation near Bayreuth were less satisfactory. This might be due to sampling artifacts which occurred with the passive samplers, caused by PAH burdened particles eroded from adjacent needles and leaves.