Analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from vehicle exhaust using TD–GC/TOF MS
This Application Note describes how the BenchTOF-dxTM time-of-flight mass spectrometer and TargetViewTM compound identification software can be used to accurately identify trace-level polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a complex vehicle exhaust particulate sample.
Introduction
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are potentially carcinogenic species present in the environment. In ambient air, the most toxic PAHs tend to be bound to airborne particulate matter, such as that generated from combustion processes. One major source of such particulates is the exhaust emissions of vehicle engines (particularly older diesel engines). In view of the continued need to reduce vehicle emissions and the toxicity of PAHs in the environment, it is important to be able to monitor the PAHs present in particulate matter from diesel exhaust.
In this Application Note, we build upon previous work1 to demonstrate how established methods for the sampling and pre-concentration of PAHs using thermal desorption (TD)2 can be enhanced by use of ALMSCO’s time-of- flight mass spectrometer (BenchTOF-dx) in conjunction with an innovative compound identification software package (TargetView).
