Selection of desorbing solvents for organic compounds from active carbon tubes

To ensure the effective performance of active carbon tubes for working environment measurements, suitable desorbing solvents were selected for 46 kinds of organic compounds by the phase equilibrium method. The criteria for suitable desorbing solvents in this study was desorption of the objective compounds from active carbon at efficiencies greater than 90% and to give good separation between its own peak and that of the objective compound on a gas chromatogram. For most non-polar or hydrophobic compounds, carbon disulfide was a versatile and effective solvent. But for polar and hydrophilic compounds like alcohol, N,N-dimethylformamide and dimethylsulfoxide were good desorbing solvents if their peaks did not overlap with those of the objective compounds. Mixtures of lower molecular weight alcohols with carbon disulfide or dichloromethane could be alternative solvents for hydrophilic compounds as well. A thermodynamic parameter of the solute-solvent system, i.e., the mixing energy derived from the solubility parameter, gave a rough indication of the effectiveness of solvents but it could not be used as a critical indicator for the efficient desorbing solvents for organic vapors collected on active carbon.