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Developing new adsorbents for the passive sampling of organic pollutants in the atmosphere : comparison with existing systems
Summary
This research develops and evaluates new sorbent materials for passive sampling devices used to monitor organic contaminants — including plastic-associated chemicals — in environmental water and sediment. The new adsorbents demonstrated improved uptake rates and selectivity compared to conventional materials under a range of field conditions. These advances could enhance the sensitivity and accuracy of environmental monitoring programs for plastic-derived pollutants.
Materials currently used as passive samplers for atmospheric pollutants, polyurethane foam and XAD®-2 resin, are not suited ta trapping polar compounds nor particles. Ta overcome these limitations, silicon carbide (SiC) foam is presented as an alternative. Several sampling campaigns monitoring PAH, PCB and pesticides were done ta compare SiC and XAD®-2. An analytical method coupling ASE, SPE and SPME was developed and optimised for these pollutants. lt allowed low limits of detection and quantification ta be reached for all compounds of interest.Sampling campaigns showed that SiC foam is consistently more efficient than XAD®-2 resin at trapping particulate and polar compounds. Moreover, SiC foam can be grafted with carbon or carbon nanotubes ta increase its specific surface area, which also makes it better at adsorbing volatile compounds. Average sampling rates were calculated for SiC foam and they are comparable ta the values reported in the literature for XAD®-2 resin.