Measurement of benzene and toluene in air using carbon absorption and gas chromatography.

• Main Authors: Briones, Lee Michael, Feliciano, Jason Timothy, Maglalang, Robert Paul
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2000
• Subjects: Volatile organic compounds; Carbon dioxide; Chemical Engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/10358
• Institution: De La Salle University

The research aims to measure the level of volatile organic compounds in air. Specifically, the study focuses on the presence of benzene and toluene. With the use of calibrated pumps and adsorbent tubes, representative samples of air are taken at designated areas at different hours. Gas chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID) is used to analyze the components of interest. The results of the experiment conducted show that there exist a relation between the number of motor vehicles to the concentrations of benzene and toluene in the air. The air samples are taken along Taft Avenue at the vicinity of the De La Salle University. An increase in the number of motor vehicles yields a similar increase in the concentration of benzene obtained in the morning is 0.112 ppb while the concentration is 0.165 ppb in the afternoon. Similarly, in the Copytrade area, the average concentration of benzene in the morning is 0.0967 ppb. On the other hand, in the afternoon, it increases to 0.154 ppb. Traffic is observed to be worse in the afternoon than in the morning. Furthermore, samples of air are collected near the photocopying machines in Miguel inside the campus. The data reveals that there is an apparent increase in concentration of benzene during the times that the machines are in operation. As is well known, the toxicity of organic air pollutants is extremely variable. A few amount of benzene and toluene in parts per million are sufficient to cause chronic illness to human beings. There are acceptable limits in the concentrations of these substances, short-term exposure can lead to severe effects. With the results of the study completed, evaluation and control can now be further considered and discussed to produce tolerable level of volatile organic compound emissions.