Optimization of programmed temperature vaporization injection for determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from diesel combustion process

Abstract

In this study, programmed temperature vaporization in the solvent vent mode (PTV-SV) of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was optimized and validated for the analysis of particle-phase and gas-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from diesel engine combustion. Because of the large number of experimental and response variables to be studied, central composite inscribed design was used to optimize the PTV-SV injection factors, including initial inlet temperature, vaporization flow and time. The optimized PTV-SV method was validated by linearity, accuracy and sensitivity. For the 16 Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) studied, the correlation coefficients for the calibration plots of peak areas versus concentrations (0.5–300 ng mL−1) ranged from 0.9812–0.9998. Limits of detection ranged from 0.016–20,130.375 ng mL−1, and limits of quantification ranged from 0.055–1.25 ng mL−1. The optimized method was used for the analysis of real samples collected from a diesel engine, which included particle-phase and gas-phase PAHs. The results showed that the improved PTV-SV method was satisfying for simultaneously identifying and quantifying PAHs produced during diesel combustion.