VOC testing

Intertek Polychemlab has acquired a unique analytical system following the pruchase of a TD-GC-MS.
The system is capable of performing rapid & cost effective, fully automated or manually controlled testing of volatile and semi-volatile organic chemicals for a broad range of products and industries.

Material testing
Materials and products used indoors or in vehicle interiors need to be evaluated for possible release of toxic and / or odorous volatile and semi-volatile organic chemicals (VOCs and SVOCs) to ensure the safety and comfort of occupants. Similar issues affect the electronics business – with materials emissions, particularly of semi-volatiles, causing quality issues during clean room fabrication and assembly of PC/electronics components.

Regulations such as the EU Construction Products Directive and new health-based evaluation protocols (for example; the AgBB procedure for flooring (Germany) and the Californian ‘CHPS’ program for school building / furnishing projects) are putting additional pressure on construction product manufacturers to test emissions as part of routine QA/QC checks. Similar tests are being promoted by leading car manufacturers and may be required on all consumer products once new chemicals legislation (REACH) is introduced across Europe.

The chemicals of interest cover a wide volatility range and many compound types (hydrocarbons, acids, glycol ethers, halocarbons, phthalates, alcohols, aldehydes, esters, ethers, ketones, amines, monoterpenes, nitrogenated compounds, sulphates, etc.) They are present in materials at low ppb to high percent levels.

Thermal desorption system combined with GC(-MS) provide method compliant technology for measuring volatile and semi-volatile organics collected on sorbent (e.g. Tenax) tubes during emissions tests. With manual and fully automated options available, the TD system allows simultaneous analysis of VOCs and SVOCs at concentrations from ppb to percent.

Examples

• Sorbent tube desorption
  direct desorption of e.g. paint in a lined tube and GC-MS identification
• micro-chamber (µ-CTE)
  Inert material testing e.g building material by elevated temp. thermal extraction (ISO 16000-6)
• Permeation testing
  Food packaging to prevent VOC’s / oxygen tainting foodstuffs
  Protective clothing such as gloves, suits etc. to protect against chemicals (ASTM F739- 99a)
  Vehicle seat coverings used to prevent VOC’s from PU foam affecting IVAQ (ISO 1505-1,2)
• SPE-tD cartridges
  Analysis of liquid samples with the help of hollow PDMS tubes that are placed in the sample.
  After equilibration the cartridge is taken out of the liquid sample, dried and fitted into a Thermal
  Desorption tube. Liquids of interest are sludges, groundwaters, fruit juice, milk etc.

(Inter)National Methods for Thermal desorption

• US EPA TO-17 (pumped monitoring of ambient air)
• ISO/EN 16017 (diffuse sampling of ambient, indoor and workplace air)
• ASTM D-6196 (diffuse sampling of ambient, plus material emissions)
• EN 14319/ISO-DIS 16000 (TD-GC-MS analysis of material emissions)
• ASTM F-1982 (TD-GC-MS analysis for semi-conductor applications)
• NIOSH 2549 (US) and MDHS 72/80 (occupational hygiene related standards)