Method Development for Concentration Measurements of SVOCs in the Atmosphere with a Focus on Emission from Oil Sands Mining

Speaker: Yasamin Hassani, graduate student

Discussion: Particulate organic matter (POM) consists of complex chemical mixtures found in the atmosphere that form a significant component of atmospheric particulate matter (PM). Phenols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and n-alkanes are some specific examples of semi-volatile organic compound (SVOC) found in airborne PM as well as in the gas phase. Despite the well-known harmful impact of these species on human health and climate, there is lack of knowledge regarding the concentration of these SVOC pollutants emitted from oil sands upgrading activities. Recently, a new methodology that allows sampling and analysis of the total (gas and particle phases) concentration of Nitrophenols in the atmosphere has been developed in our research group. This method is based on a sorbent impregnated filter (SIF) technique using conventional high volume air samplers, extraction and analysis by GC-MS. This presentation will focus on some preliminary tests performed to modify the new SIF technique for analysis of PAHs and n-alkanes. Once the modified method has been fully developed and tested, it will be used to study ambient samples collected from Oil Sands mining. Some results of experiments conducted to gain more insight into the reason behind the low yield and the lack of vapor pressure dependence on the phase partitioning of nitrophenols, which were observed in previous studies, will also be presented.