Glycols – Method for the determination of diethylene glycol, ethylene glycol and propylene glycol in workplace air using gas chromatography [Air Monitoring Methods, 2018]

Abstract

This analytical method is a validated measurement procedure for the determination and limit value monitoring of diethylene glycol, ethylene glycol and propylene glycol in workplace air. With this method simultaneously airborne glycols in the gaseous state as well as particles are collected. Sampling is performed by drawing a defined volume of air through the sampling system GGP-Mini consisting of a glass fibre filter and a charcoal tube connected downstream using a suitable flow-regulated pump. The flow rate is set to 0.33 L/min with a recommended air sample volume of 40 L. The collected glycols are desorbed with a mixture of dichloromethane/meth-anol containing 1-hexanol as internal standard and then analysed by means of gas chromatography using FID. The quantitative evaluation is based on calibration functions obtained by means of multiple-point calibrations. The limit of quantification (LOQ) for the individual glycols is 0.5 mg/m 3 based on an air sample volume of 40 L.