Material Emissions

The industrially manufactured materials surrounding us today may pose a potential health risk. They may exude substances that are absorbed via the skin or inhaled. These include plasticizers from plastics, solvents from paints and glues, flame retardants from electrical appliances, or fungicides from construction materials.

To minimize risks, there are statutory threshold values for material emissions.
The evaluation of the air quality in indoor areas, vehicles, or workplaces is mainly performed for health and safety reasons. As the air quality of indoor areas depends on the emissions of the objects within them and the construction materials used, in addition to the air itself, emissions from objects present in the space, such as furniture, paints, carpets, etc., are measured to evaluate potential air quality problems.

GERSTEL thermal desorption systems transfer the analytes from air samples collected on sorbent tubes to the gas chromatograph (GC). These air samples could be taken either at the site of emission or from a component test chamber. Alternatively, construction materials could be checked for potential emissions by means of thermal extraction with the same thermal desorption systems.

After dinitrophenylhydrazine DNPH derivatization, the GERSTEL Multipurpose Sampler (MPS) can automate the determination of aldehydes and ketones from air samples. The entire process, from the elution of the analytes to the subsequent injection of the eluate into high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), is precisely controlled, resulting in a significant improvement in accuracy and reproducibility.