ARS | Publication request: Comparison of storage stability of odorous VOCs in polyester aluminum and polyvinyl fluoride tedlar bags

Submitted to: Journal of Chromatography
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: December 15, 2011
Publication Date: December 20, 2011
Citation: Kim, Y., Kim, K., Jo, S., Jeon, E., Sohn, J., Parker, D.B. 2011. Comparison of storage stability of odorous VOCs in polyester aluminum and polyvinyl fluoride tedlar bags. Journal of Chromatography. 712:162-167.

Interpretive Summary: Volatile organic compounds (VOC) are emitted from livestock and industrial facilities. VOC are important because many are odorous and some are regulated as hazardous pollutants. One method for quantifying the amount of VOC or odor emitted from a facility is to collect air samples in plastic bags and have those samples analyzed in the laboratory for VOC or odor concentration. The most commonly used sampling bags in the U.S., Korea, and other locations are made of a plastic film called Tedlar®. Unfortunately, the U.S. company that originally manufactured Tedlar® film has now ceased to produce this particular product. Therefore, there is a need to find other types of bags that function equally well for odor and VOC sampling. In this research, the VOC recovery rates for polyester aluminum bags were compared to those for Tedlar® bags. For the eight VOC that were tested, the VOC recovery rates were higher for polyester aluminum bags than for Tedlar® bags. Thus, it appears that polyester aluminum bags are comparable or superior to Tedlar® bags for VOC sampling.

Technical Abstract: Whole air sampling using containers such as flexible bags or rigid canisters is commonly used to collect samples of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in air. The objective of this study was to compare the stability of polyester aluminum (PEA) and polyvinyl fluoride (PVF, brand name Tedlar®) bags for gaseous VOC sampling. Eight VOC standards (benzene, toluene, p xylene, styrene, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, butyl acetate, and isobutyl alcohol) were placed into each bag at storage times of 0, 2, and 3 days prior to analyses by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). From each bag representing each storage day, samples of 3 different mass loadings were withdrawn and analyzed to derive response factors (RF) of each chemical between the slope of the GC response (y axis) vs. loaded mass (x axis). The relative recoveries (RR) of VOC, if derived by dividing RF value of a given storage day by that of 0 day, varied by time, bag type, and VOC type. If the RR values after three days are compared, those of methyl isobutyl ketone were the highest with 96 (PVF) and 99% (PEA); however, the results of isobutyl alcohol were highly contrasting between the two bags with 31 and 94%, respectively. Differences in RR values between the two bag types increased with storage time, such that RR of PEA bags (88 ± 10%) were superior to those of PVF bags (73 ± 22%) after three days, demonstrating that VOC in PEA bags were more stable than PVF bags.