HIGH-VOLUME SAMPLING OF AIRBORNE POLYCHLOROBIPHENYLS WITH AMBERLITE XAD-2 RESIN

Polyurethane foam, polyurethane foam coated with DC-200, Florisil, and Amberlite XAD-2 resin have been evaluated in a small-scale comparative study of their ability to sample airborne polychlorobiphenyls. XAD-2 resin has an excellent collection efficiency for tetrachlorobiphenyl at 1 l min-1 flow rates and is also suitable for high-volume air sampling. A high-volume air sampler was modified to sample both particulate and vapor-phase polychlorobiphenyls by incorporating the XAD-2 resin behind a glass fiber filter. When the sampling system was operated at a flow rate of 0.7 m3 min-1 for 24 h, the collection efficiencies for tetrachlorobiphenyl and Aroclor 1221 were 96.5% and 83.0%, respectively. © 1979.