Analytical Sciences

Evaluation of a Passive Air Sampler for Measuring Indoor Formaldehyde

Sun-Tae KIM,* Bongbeen YIM,** and Jaeho JEONG*

*Department of Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Daejeon University, 96-3, Yongun-dong, Dong-gu, Daejeon 300-716, Korea
**R & D Center, Envors Co., Ltd., 151-13, Birae-dong, Daeduk-gu, Daejeon 306-809, Korea

A passive air sampler, using 4-amino-3-hydrazino-5-mercapto-1,2,4-triazole, was evaluated for the determination of formaldehyde in indoor environments. Chromatography paper cleaned using a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution was experimentally determined as being the optimum absorption filter for the collection of formaldehyde (0.05 µg cm^-2 formaldehyde). From a linear-regression analysis between the mass of formaldehyde time-collected on a passive air sampler and the formaldehyde concentration measured by an active sampler, the sampling rate of the passive air sampler was 1.52 L h^-1. The sampling rate, determined for the passive air sampler in relation to the temperature (19 - 28°C) and the relative humidity (30 - 90%), were 1.56 ± 0.04 and 1.58 ± 0.07 L h^-1, respectively. The relationship between the sampling rate and the air velocity was a linear-regression within the observed range. In the case of exposed samplers, the stability of the collected formaldehyde decreased with increasing storage time (decrease of ca. 25% after 22 days); but with the unexposed samplers the stability of the blank remained relatively unchanged for 7 days (decrease of ca. 37% after 22 days). The detection limits for the passive air sampler with an exposure time of 1 day and 7 days were 10.4 and 1.48 µg m^-3, respectively.

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