Evaluation of photoionization detector performance in photocatalytic studies for removing volatile organic compounds

Abstract

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of photoionization detector (PID) system as a substitution for gas chromatography in the measurement of a 3 xylene isomer mixtures as a representative of the volatile organic compounds in photocatalytic studies. Materials and Methods: This study has been carried out by using test setup for generating known concentrations from equal ratio of 3 xylene isomers. The concentration values to be evaluated were classified into 4 concentration ranges from 0.1 of threshold limit values (TLV) to 2 of TLV to evaluate the PID system appliance compared with that in the reference method. The test was done 4 times for each evaluation concentration in 3 relative humidity levels (0%, 20%, and 80%). Results: The correlation between the PID results and the National Institue of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) reference method results in an atmosphere with relative humidity of 0%, 20%, and 80% were good and, respectively, were 0.993, 0.992, and 0.991 and total correlation was 0.989. The paired t test indicates a significant difference between actual concentrations in reference method and the extracted concentration from PID. Conclusions: Although the results presented by PID in the present study are different from those extracted from the reference method (from 10 to 260 ppm), the equipment response is linear. So, the results are acceptable in photocatalytic studies in case the contaminant concentration is measured by the same equipment either before or after the reactor for calculation of the removal efficiency. PID calibration with the test material(s) is recommended.