Rapid method to measure the concentrations of indoor pollutants by virtue of SPME

Compared with prior sampling methods, solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME) is taken as a non-destructive sampling method with the merits of small extraction volume and short extraction time, which is widely applied since its invention. The extraction characteristic of SPME is affected by the convective effect of pollutants along the coating surface, however, this effect has seldom been mentioned in previous studies. Allowing forthe convective mass transfer coefficient, this paper develops an analytical model to extract the samples for VOC and SVOC by SPME. With this model, the VOC and SVOC concentrations in the extraction samples can be easily obtained. Moreover, this model can be applied to measure the key parameters, i.e., the partition and diffusion coefficients (called calibration process). Tests of SPME sampling for a typical SVOC, di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), were conducted. Good agreement between model prediction and experimental data is obtained, which validates the reliability of the model as well as the calibration method.