A direct thermal desorber as a sampling device for application specific sensor system

Static headspace is the simplest method to generate volatile from condensed phase samples in application specific sensor systems (ASSS, formerly ’Electronic Noses’). We developed a new method using dynamic extraction of volatile (stripping). Direct thermal desorption (DTD) coupled to gas sensors is a novel and promising solution. A software integration of the instantaneous volatile concentration over the stripping time, calculated from the sensor response after a proper linearization and calibration was used for quantitative measurements. It was applied for the estimation of released residual solvents from printed paper packaging. The results were found in good agreement with the actual ones provided by DTD/GC-FID and thus this technique could be considered as an alternative to GC-based quality control.