• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.161-167
• /
• 2004

Air quality monitoring is a primary activity for industrial and social environment. The government identifies the pollutants that each industry must monitor. Especially, the VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), which are very harmful to human body and environment atmosphere, should be controlled under the government policy. However, the VOCs, which have not been confirmed in emission sources are very difficult to monitor. It is needed to develop the monitoring system that allow the continuous and in situ measurement of VOCs mixture in different environmental matrices. Gas chromatography and mass spectrometry are the most prevalent current techniques among those available for the analysis of VOCs. But, they need a large size analytical instrument, which costs a great deal for purchase and operation. In addition, it has some limitations for realtime environmental monitoring such as location problems and slow processing time. Recently, several companies have commercialized a portable VOCs measurement systems, which cannot classify various kinds of VOCs but total quantities. We have developed a VOCs measurement system, which recognizes various kinds and quantities of VOCs, such as benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX). Also, it can be used as a stand- alone type and/or fixed type in the vehicle with rack for real -time environmental monitoring.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.254-259
• /
• 2012

The discharge characteristics of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) from seven wastewater treatment plants and two industry drains at Nakdong River basin were investigated. Four Sampling campaigns were conducted between May 2008 and November 2008, and tested for 17 VOCs. As results, eight VOCs were detected at some sampling sites, but their concentration levels were low; 0.19~3.41 ${\mu}g/L$, dependent on each sampling location and substance. However, proper management plans such as supervising and monitoring systems for VOCs are needed to control those pollutants since VOCs might affect human health as well as aquatic ecosystems with extremely low concentration levels.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.83-96
• /
• 2005

The purposes of this study were to characterize the local levels of VOCs (volatile organic compounds), to develop source profiles of VOCs, and to quantify the source contribution of VOCs using the CMB (chemical mass balance) model. The concentration of VOCs had been measured every 6-day duration in the SRO monitoring site in the Yeosu Petrochemical Industrial Complex from September 2000 to August 2002. The total of 35 target VOCs, which were included in the TO-14 designated from the U.S. EPA, was selected to be monitored in the study area. During a 24-h period, the ambient VOCs were sampled by using canisters placing about 10 ～ 15 m above the ground level. The collected canisters were then analyzed by a GC-MS in the laboratory. Aside from ambient sampling at the SRO site, the VOCs had been intensively and massively measured from 8 direct sources and 4 general sources in the study area. The results obtained in the study were as follows; first, the annual mean concentrations of the target VOCs were widely distributed regardless of monitoring sites in the Yeosu Petrochemical Industrial Complex. In particular, the concentrations of BTX (Benzene, Toluene, Xylene), vinyl chloride were higher than other target compounds. Second, based on these source sample data, source profiles for VOCs were developed to apply a receptor model, the CMB model. Third, the results of source apportionment study for the VOCs in the SRO Site were as follows; The source of petrochemical plant was apportioned by 31.3% in terms of VOCs mass. The site was also affected by 16.7% from wastewater treatment plant, 14.0% from iron mills, 8.4% from refineries, 4.4% from oil storage, 3.8% from automobiles, 2.3% from fertilizer, 2.3% from painting, 2.2% from waste incinerator, 0.6% from graphic art, and 0.4% from gasoline vapor sources.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.7-12
• /
• 2019

Significant progress has been made recently in detection of highly sensitive volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using chemical sensors. Combined with the progress in design of micro sensors array and electronic nose systems, these advances enable new applications for detection of extremely low concentrations of breath-related VOCs. State of the art detection technology in turn enables commercial sensor systems for health care applications, with high detection sensitivity and small size, weight and power consumption characteristics. We have been developing an intelligent electronic nose system for detection of VOCs for healthcare breath analysis applications. This paper reviews our contribution to monitoring of respiratory diseases and to diabetic monitoring using an intelligent electronic nose system for detection of low concentration VOCs using breath analysis techniques.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.393-405
• /
• 2018

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are representative air pollutants due to their detrimental effects on human health and their role in formation of secondary organic aerosols. Assessments and monitoring programs of VOCs using periodic grab sampling like Tedlar bags, canisters, and sorbent traps provide limited information, often with delay times of days or weeks. Selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) is an emerging analytical technique for the real-time quantification of VOCs in air. It relies on chemical ionization of the VOCs molecules in air introduced into helium carrier gas using $H_3O^+$, $NO^+$, and $O_2{^+}$ precursor ions. Real-time monitoring method of 60 VOCs in the ambient air was developed using TO-15 standard gas mixture. Calibration curves, method detection limit, and quantitation reproducibility of the target compounds were tested. Dynamic dilution system was used to dilute standard gas from 0.174 ppbv to 100 ppbv, where calibration curves showed good linearity with $r^2$> 0.95 in all target analytes. Limit of detection (LOD) all compounds were sub ppbv, and some halogenated compounds showed pptv levels. Seven consecutive analyses of target compounds showed good repeatability with relative standard deviation of less than 10%. One day monitoring of VOCs in ambient air was conducted in Geoje. Average concentration of target VOCs in Geoje were relatively lower than other regions, among which formaldehyde showed the highest concentration ($15.4{\pm}5.78ppbv$). SIFT-MS provided good temporal resolution data (1 data per 3.2 minute), which can be used for identifying ephemeral short-term event. It is expected that SIFT-MS will be a versatile monitoring platform for VOCs in ambient air.

• Proceedings of the Korea Air Pollution Research Association Conference
• /
• 1999.10a
• /
• pp.399-400
• /
• 1999

From the scientific point of view, any regulation of the emissions of toxic air pollutants in general, and ETS or VOCs in particular, will inevitably be based on exposure levels and consequential health effects, data of this nature is still lacking for most of ETS and VOCs. In this context, the importance of personal monitoring measurements of ETS and VOCs in relation to risk assessment has been emphasized previously.(omitted)

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.523-538
• /
• 2009

Recently, there has been a keen demand for real-time automatic monitoring of VOCs not only in Korea but other developed countries. We carried out this study to evaluate and to optimize the performance of a continuous automatic monitoring system for hazardous VOCs (HVOCs) in the ambient atmosphere, using an on-line GC system. The online system normally consisted of a Nafion dryer prior to a cold trap of an automatic thermal desorption apparatus and a GC system equipped with two detectors, i.e. PID and ECD. Preliminary tests conducted to check out any contamination of the system revealed an evidence of significant artifact formation of benzene, and it was found that the Nafion dryer (even brand new one) is the source of the benzene artifact. Thus, all the subsequent experiments in this study was carried out inevitably by removing the Nafion dryer. The on-line GC method was investigated with a variety of QC/QA performance criteria such as repeatability, linearity, lower detection limits, and accuracy. In order to find out the best operating condition for the on-line GC system, three different types (in terms of adsorption strength) of cold trap combinations were tested, i.e. (i) Tenax-TA and Carbopack-B combination (weak and hydrophobic); (ii) Tenax-TA, Carbopack-X and Carboxen-1000 combination (strong and hydrophilic); and (iii) Tenax-TA and Carbopack-X combination (medium and hydrophobic/hydrophilic). The USEPA TO-17 manual method was selected as a reference method to evaluate the performance of the on-line method. A series of experiments revealed that the system performance was superior to others when a cold trap packed with hydrophilic adsorbents (Tenax-TA/Carbopack-X/Carboxen-1000 combination) was used and operated at $25^{\circ}C$. However, the system with a cold trap packed with a combination of Tenax-TA and Carbopack-X is more recommended for field applications since the carboxen-1000 adsorbent is too sensitive to water vapor, and hence the performance of the system might be very unstable to humid samples or during rainy days. Furthermore, the precision and accuracy criteria of the Tenax-TA/ Carbopack-X combination were generally compatible with the triple adsorbents cold trap. The continuous automatic monitoring method is, thus, considered very useful to real-time monitoring to understand the variations of VOCs concentrations in ambient air, as it adopts much simpler procedures in sampling, analysis, and data integration steps than manual monitoring methods. However, it should be noted that there is a high possibility of benzene artifacts formation through the Nafion dryer, which is often installed to remove water vapor in air samples before being adsorbed onto the cold trap. Therefore, if a Nafion dryer is used in any studies of monitoring VOCs, the benzene contamination should be carefully examined before carrying out obtaining the data.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.227-231
• /
• 2018

Indoor air pollution has become a serious issue, affecting the health and comfort of building occupants. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are among the most common indoor contaminants, and are released from numerous indoor emission sources. Among the VOCs, formaldehyde and toluene are toxic chemicals at low levels and are frequently detected indoors. Exposure to formaldehyde and toluene can irritate sensitive tissue and may increase the risk of cancer. Therefore, monitoring formaldehyde and toluene is critical for the health and comfort of residents. In addition, as human indoor activities can generate VOC gases, analysis of their influence on VOCs is needed. In this study, we compared electronic nose (E-Nose) data for formaldehyde and toluene with E-Nose data for indoor mixture gas with consideration for human indoor activities.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.17 no.5
• /
• pp.375-384
• /
• 2001

Optical remote sensing techniques are particularly advantageous over the conventional fixed point methods because with these methods large-area monitoring can be possible and sample preparation difficulties are avoidable. Instruments based on the differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) technique are widely used for monitoring air pollutants in urban areas in recent years. In this study, $O_3$, SO$_2$, NO$_2$, and VOCs (benzene, toluene, xylene, and styrene) are measured continuously at Sihwa industrial area using a DOAS from February to November. 1999. Intercomparison between the DOAS method and the conventional methods (filed point samplers for $O_3$, NO$_2$, and SO$_2$, and adsorbent sampling methods and gas chromatography for VOCs) are performed simultaneously at the same site. The time series of the DOAS data and that of fixed point method show good match at the view point of the tendency, but the absolute concentration values of these two methods differ quite a lot from each other; correlation coefficients shows 0.78 for $O_3$and 0.97 for SO$_2$. However, the results of VOCs measurements are not quite satisfactory ; the spectral interference with $O_2$and $O_3$appears to be the major cause of the errors for VOCs .

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.583-589
• /
• 2016

Volatile organic compounds(VOCs) are regarded as a harmful cause substance not only causing air pollutions but also causing global warming phenomenon. For this reason, VOCs are managed politically to reduce emissions by each country. In particular, the vapor from the gas station contains VOCs which is harmful to the human body such as carcinogens benzene and pollute the atmosphere, the Ministry of Environment defined every gas station must install vapor recovery equipment to recover volatile organic compounds. Recently, there are many accidents caused by existing vapor treatment methods, the liquefaction recovery technology is getting the spotlight to cool the vapor at the field. However, because the liquefaction recovery technology have risks of fire or explosion in accordance with temperature, the real time monitoring is critical factor. In this paper, we implement an Android-based monitoring application for liquified vapor recovery device which attached sensor module for temperature and power to monitoring real time information.