Combustive approach for measuring total volatile phosphorus content in landfill gas

A technique was developed to measure the total gaseous phosphorus content in biogas. The amount of air needed for a neutral to oxidising flame was mixed with the biogas. The gas mixture was burnt in a closed quartz burner and the combustion gasses were bubbled through a nitric acid solution. The phosphate content in the bubbling liquid was determined with sector field ICP-MS. The technique was validated in the lab with phosphine. Afterwards the set-up was installed on a landfill. The total gaseous phosphorus content in the landfill gas, measured with the combustive technique, ranged from 1.65 to 4.44 microg P/m3. At the same time the phosphine concentration in the landfill gas was determined gas chromatographically (GC). The phosphine (PH3) content measured with GC ranged from 7.6 to 16.7 microg PH3-P/m3. Since the phosphine-P content (GC) was consistently higher than the total gaseous phosphorus content (burner/ICP-MS), the hypothesised presence of highly toxic gaseous phosphorus compounds other than phosphine could not be demonstrated.