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Determination of Benzene, Toluene and Xylene (BTX) Concentrations in Air Using HPLC Developed Method Compared To Gas Chromatography
Determination of Benzene, Toluene and Xylene (BTX) Concentrations in Air Using HPLC Developed Method Compared To Gas Chromatography
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Department of Occupational Health, Research Centre for Health Sciences, School of Public Health,
Hamedan University of Medical Sciences, Hamedan, Iran; 2Department of Biostatics and Epidemiology,
Research Centre for Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Hamedan University of Medical Sciences,
Hamedan, Iran; 3Department of Occupational Health, Faculty of Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences,
Tehran, Iran.
Received May 8, 2010; Revised September 19, 2010; Accepted October 30, 2010
This paper is available on-line at http://ijoh.tums.ac.ir
ABSTRACT
A new method for analysis of benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) using High Performance Liquid
Chromatography-UV detection (HPLC-UV) is described and compared to the gas chromatography (GC)
method. A charcoal adsorption tube connected to a small pump was used to obtain samples from an
atmosphere chamber standard. Samples were extracted with methanol and analyzed by HPLC-UV.
Chromatography was isocratic in a mobile phase consisting of water-methanol (30-70). The flow rate was
set at 1 ml/min. The analyses were completely separated and were quantified using both methods. The
results demonstrated no statistically significant differences between BTX concentrations between the two
analytical methods with a correlation coefficient of 0.98-0.99. The GC method provided higher sensitivity
than HPLC, but the HPLC determination of BTX were applicable to real samples because its sensivity
was lower than the thershold limit recommended by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial
Hygienist (ACGIH) for an 8-hour workday.
Keywords: Volatile organic compounds, Gas chromatography, Air
INTRODUCTION
Volatile organic compounds emit from a wide range
of sources inside of industrial units and ambient air in
urban areas. Anthropogenic volatile organic compounds
(VOCs) arise mainly from motor vehicle exhaust,
solvent usage, industrial processes, oil refining, petrol
storage, and distribution, land filled wastes, food
manufacture, and agriculture. They play an important
role in the formation of ground-level ozone,
photochemical oxidants, and smog episodes, and they
are harmful to the ecosystem. Some VOCs are more
*
Corresponding
author:
bahrami@umsha.ac.ir
A.
R.
Bahrami,
Email:
12-17
ijoh.tums.ac.ir |
Determination of Benzene, Toluene and Xylene (BTX) Concentrations in Air Using HPLC
13
(a)
(b)
Fig 2. The chromatograph of HPLC (a) and BTX in GC (b)
analyzed BTX by HPLC-Fluorescence detector cyclodextrin stationary phase and extracted samples
with pressured fluid extraction [14]. Ghittori et al. used
the HPLC-Fluorescence detector to determine benzene
concentration in the air. They extracted samples with a
mixture of methylene chloride and ethyl acetate [15].
Our objective was to develop a rapid and specific
method for simultaneously measuring BTX in ambient
air inside of manufactures using HPLC coupled with an
UV detector.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
In order to prepare known concentrations of VOC
analyses in the range of interest, a dynamic atmosphere
generation system was built in the laboratory. A
standard gas-generating device was constructed as
14
Bahrami et al.
Table 1. The mean of peak area and retention time at different mobile phase for injection of 25 l of standard solution 25 g/ml
Mobile Phase
Methanol-Water
(80-20)
Methanol-Water
(70-30)
Methanol-Water
(60-40)
Methanol-Water
(50-50)
Compounds
Peak area
Retention tine
Benzene
0.28
5.13
6.95
Toluene
0.25
M&P-Xylene
0.21
9.72
O-Xylene
0.15
12.62
Benzene
1.71
7.3
Toluene
1.64
11.15
M&P-Xylene
1.21
16.60
O-Xylene
0.64
18.32
Benzene
0.33
11.19
Toluene
0.39
19.76
M&P-Xylene
0.24
35.04
O-Xylene
0.13
37.35
Benzene
0.16
19.59
Toluene
0.09
40.43
M&P-Xylene
O-Xylene
ijoh.tums.ac.ir |
Determination of Benzene, Toluene and Xylene (BTX) Concentrations in Air Using HPLC
15
Table 2. The mean of peak area analysis of benzene, toluene, BTX standard solutions in methanol and carbon disulfide by HPLC
Compound
Benzene
Toluene
M&P-Xylene
O-Xylene
Standard Solutions
Carbon disulfide
Methanol
Mean
Standard deviation
Mean
Standard deviation
-
0.26
0.02
10
1.21
0.03
30
3.57
0.06
0.55
0.35
50
6.72
1.08
1.29
0.46
100
10.62
1.48
2.81
0.97
0.41
0.03
10
1.71
0.04
30
2.91
0.04
50
4.74
0.07
0.54
0.002
100
7.62
1.19
0.57
0.003
0.41
0.02
10
1.64
0.04
30
2.62
0.05
0.54
0.01
50
3.42
0.08
1.15
0.02
100
6.62
1.21
1.80
0.01
0.41
0.02
10
0.64
0.03
30
1.22
0.06
50
3.23
0.76
0.54
0.01
100
5.62
0.98
0.57
0.01
16
Bahrami et al.
Table 3. Linearity range and detection limits for HPLC-UV detection limit and GC-FID analyses for samples provided from atmospheric
generation system
Compound
Concentration (ppm) Peak area of limit Limit of detection Limit of detection per
Realibility*
(g/ml)
detection
sample ( g)
Benzene
GC
1.23-436.42
13.85
0.1
0.1
0.99
Toluene
0.7-6.11
2.001
0.2
0.2
0.99
M&P-Xylene
1.13-12.27
2.69
0.3
0.3
0.99
O-Xylene
2.03-13.48
2.37
0.5
0.5
0.99
Benzene
1.29-443.14
0.078
0.5
0.5
0.98
Toluene
0.93-6.25
0.098
0.97
M&P-Xylene
1.96-11.01
0.071
0.98
O-Xylene
2.45-13.63
0.081
0.99
HPLC
CONCLUSIONS
The GC method provides a higher sensitivity than
HPLC method, but the HPLC determination of benzene,
toluene and xylenes are applicable to real samples
because its sensivity is lower than standards
recommended by ACGIH for the exposure limit value
over an 8-hour workday. Although GC-FID is the
standard method and the most popular technique
recommended by NIOSH, OSHA and EPA for the
analysis of BTX in occupational environments, the
HPLC method proposed here can be employed as a
alternative for seperating and determining BTX in
occupational environments.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors thank the Hamadan University of
Medical Sciences for supporting this research. The
authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.
REFERENCES
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Determination of Benzene, Toluene and Xylene (BTX) Concentrations in Air Using HPLC
16. W.A. McClenny, in: H.J.T. Bloemen, J. Burn (Editors), Volatile
Organic Compounds in the Environment, Blackie, London,
1993.
17. Ciccioli P, Bloemen HJT, Burn J. Volatile Organic Compounds
in the Environment, Blackie, London, 1993, 92174.
ijoh.tums.ac.ir |
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18. McClenny WA, Pleil JD, Evans GF, Olivier KD, MW. Holdren,
Winberry WD. J Air Waste Manage Assoc 1991; 41: 13081318.
19. Allison AM, Yu-Ping C, MacFarlane JK, Gschwend PM.
Laboratory Assessment of BTX Soil Flushing. Environ Sci
Technol. 1996; 30 (11): 322332311.