[HPLC determination of low concentrations of benzene]

A laboratory study, using generated atmosphere containing 0.14/23.3 mg/m3 of Benzene, was conducted to adapt an existing industrial hygiene monitoring method for measuring low concentrations of Benzene. This method was developed to determine concentrations of Benzene in the ambient air and around refinery/petrochemical plant. The air sample is collected on a diffusive personal sampler (Zambelli-TK 200) and analyzed by desorption with a mixture of methylene chloride and ethyl acetate followed by quantification using HPLC-Fluorescence detector. The method used did not detect aliphatic or alicyclic hydrocarbons. The HPLC-Fluorescence method is compared with a gas chromatographic method that uses capillary column and flame ionization detection after a collection of air sample on a Carbotrap 100 tube and following thermal desorption.