Understanding Units of Gas Concentration

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By Edward Naranjo, Marketing Director, Emerson

Gas concentration is one of the most important determinants of a substance’s hazard

potential. Flammability, toxicity, and oxygen deficiency are often determined by
concentration. For combustible gas detectors, gas concentration is expressed as a
volume fraction of combustible gas or vapor in air known as the lower explosive limit
(LEL), while for toxic gas detectors, the signal output is read as a percent by volume (%
vol.), parts per million by volume (ppm (vol.)), or mass per unit volume. Countries and
jurisdictions use different units of measurement to define maximum permissible
combustible and toxic gas concentrations in the workplace. The choice of the units to use
depends on the chemical and its abundance under ambient conditions. As a result, it is
necessary to become familiar with the units used and methods for converting between
units of measurement.

Volume and Mole Fractions

Units of volume fraction and mole fractions are frequently used for gas concentration.
The most common value fraction is ppm (vol.), defined as the ratio between the volume of
a constituent V i and the total volume V total:

As an example, 10,000 ppm = 1% (v/v) or a volume fraction of 0.01. The volume fraction of
a constituent i is defined as the volume of constituent V i divided by the volume of all
constituents of the mixture V total:

Similarly, the mole fraction of constituent X i is the moles of a target substance n divided
by the total number of moles in a mixture n total:
The values of volume fraction and mole fraction are identical under the ideal gas law:

The advantage of volume/volume or mol/mol units is that gas concentrations reported in

these units do not change over temperature and pressure. By contrast, atmospheric
concentrations like mass per unit volume (ex. mg/m 3 ) decrease as gas is expanded since
the component’s mass remains constant as the volume increases.

Mass Concentration Units

Concentration units based on mass include mass fraction (ex. mass chemical per total
mass) and mass per unit volume. Like ppm (vol.), mass/mass concentrations are
commonly expressed as parts per million, where m i is the mass of constituent i and m total
is the total mass:

Note: Where a gas concentration is expressed simply as ppm, it is unclear whether a

volume or mass basis is intended.

In the atmosphere, it is common to express concentrations of mass/volume air like

milligrams per meter cubed (mg/m 3 ). Thus, the United States’ National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Pocket Guide for Chemical Hazards reports
worker exposure limits in ppm (vol.) and mg/m 3 . To convert from ppm (vol.) to mg/m 3 , it is
assumed the ideal gas law applies under standard temperature and pressure where M W
equals molecular weight:

Note that at standard conditions (p = 760 mmHg, T = 273°K), one mole of any pure gas
occupies a volume of 22.4 L.
Another useful formula is one that converts from units of ppm (vol.) to ppm (m) at 760
mmHg and 25°C:

For convenience, NIOSH recommended exposure limits (REL’s) for several toxic gases are
shown in Table 1 below.

Table 2 shows the LEL’s of several combustible gases in ppm (vol.), ppm(m), and volume
fraction.
Last, conversion units for common industrial gases are illustrated in Table 3.

Situations Where Unit Conversions May Be Useful

It is tempting to think that converting units of measurement is hardly necessary. After all,
in most countries, combustible gas concentrations are measured either in volume
fractions or its derivatives, while toxic gas exposure limits are established in ppm (vol.) or
mass volume units. Yet one cannot gauge a gas’ hazard potential without comparing
attributes in a common plane. Consider that several toxic gases like ammonia and
hydrogen sulfide are combustible. The graph in Figure 1 below showing gas concentration
in ppm (vol.) gives a sense of toxic and combustible limits in relationship to one another.

Similarly, most hydrocarbons are harmful long before they are at combustible
concentrations. As shown in Figure 2 below, the IDLH is often at approximately 10% LEL.
Based on those results, an analysis of hydrocarbon toxicity recommended that alarm
levels be set at 10% LEL to protect workers from hydrocarbon narcosis (Gardner 2012).

References
ISO 10156, Determination of Fire Potential and Oxidizing Ability for the Selection of
Cylinder Valve Outlets. 2010. Geneva, Switzerland: ISO.

Gardner, R. 2012. Use of Reciprocal Calculation Procedures for Setting Workplace

Emergency Action Levels for Hydrocarbon Mixtures and their Relationship to Lower
Explosive Limits. Ann. Occup. Hyg. 56 (3): 326–339.