The development of sampling and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analytical procedures to identify and determine the minor organic components of landfill gas.
Modified drive-in piezometers provided quick and inexpensive probes to give access to the undiluted landfill gas below ground level. Samples collected on Tenax GC and Porapak Q adsorption tubes were thermally desorbed and injected into a gas Chromatograph through a cold trap. Aqueous condensate samples were injected directly by syringe. Chromosorb 101, Tenax GC and Triton X100/KOH packed columns, and an SE30 capillary column were used, together with full-scan and selective-ion mass spectrometry. Limits of detection, all less than 1 mg m (3), and calibration correlation coefficients were determined for the least tractable components, i.e., free acids, amines and alcohols. A detection limit of 0.1 mg m (3), based on anisole as internal standard, was estimated for all other compounds. The standard deviation for the whole procedure, with full-scan mass spectrometry, was +/-55% of the mean. A large part of this was due to an instrumental error, standard deviation = 33% of the mean, that was inherent in the manual operation of the mass-spectrum chart-recorder. These procedural errors were insignificant in comparison with the variations caused by the type of site and the age of the fill.
Brookes
B I
BI
Regional Chemist's Department, Strathclyde Regional Council, 8 Elliot Place, Glasgow, Scotland.
Young
P J
PJ