[Adsorption and desorption of organic solvent vapours using silica gel (author's transl)]

For a simple analysis of organic solvent vapours in working environmental air, we investigated the following method. First, join the adsorption tube (2 ml of 60--80 mesh silica gel packed in a 5 mm phi x 18 cm glass tube) to hand vacuum pump and suck 200 ml of the sample air. After adsorption, join this adsorption tube to the sampling bottle under reduced pressure. Second, open the cock of the sampling bottle and heat only the adsorption tube in an oven for 3 min. In the operation mentioned above, organic solvent vapours desorbed from the silica gel transfer smoothly into the sampling bottle. After desorption, take 1 ml of air from the sampling bottle and determine the sample quantities with the gas chromatograph. Sample solvents used were as follows: n-hexane, cyclohexane, benzene, toluene, m-xylene, styrene, 1.1.1-trichloroethane, dichloromethane, tetrachloroethylene, ethylacetate, acetone, methyl-ethylketone, methylisobutylketone, methanol, ethanol, n-propanol, and n-butanol. We obtained the following results. (1) 60--80 mesh silica gel is appropriate for this method. (2) Heating temperature to get 100% recovery varies with the type of organic solvent. m-Xylene and styrene require 250 degrees C, methylisobutylketone and n-butanol 200 degrees C, and the others 150 degrees C. (3) If the adsorption tube is preserved in a freezer at -20 degrees C, no decrease is observed for up to 7 days. At room temperatures, however, 1.1.1-trichloroethane, dichloromethane, tetrachloroethylene, n-hexane, and cyclohexane decreased by the amount 4-10% in the tube for each 24-hour period. These sample should be preserved at lower temperatures soon after absorbing on the silica gel. This method is simple and accurate, so valid for analysis of organic solvent vapours in the working environmental air.