Determination of Volatile Organic Compounds in Ambient Air of Pasir Gudang by using Gas Chromatogrpahy-Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Accumulation of VOCs in ambient air affects air quality through the secondary organic aerosol and generation of surface level ozone. Hence, the study of determination of VOCs in ambient air was conducted to monitor the VOCs content in Pasir Gudang industrial area. The study was performed at the affected school during Sungai Kim Kim illegal chemical waste dumping tragedy, Sekolah Kebangsaan Taman Pasir Puteh, Pasir Gudang in January 2020. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was employed to measure the VOCs content especially benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene. Sorbent cartridge was used to sampled the VOCs in the ambient air via active and passive sampling method. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis of VOCs showed low level of VOCs concentration with 96.36 ± 2.52 percent of recovery. The concentration of VOCs at all sampling point were below limit of range (LOR), it shows that the compounds are below the instrument sensitivity. Limits of detection (LOD) for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene was 0.05 μg/m3 meanwhile for m,p-xylene is 0.1 μg/m3. Meanwhile, limit of quantification (LOQ) for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene is 0.64 μg/m3 meanwhile for m,p-xylene is 1.3 μg/m3. This study concludes that the VOCs especially BTEX were not detected using the active and passive sampling technique using sorbent cartridge.