A simple and robust method for the comprehensive analysis of VOCs in liquid household products

Abstract

Household products contain a substantial amount of dissolved volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which nowadays contribute significantly to VOC emissions in cities. Particularly, floor cleaners (FC) are among the most commonly used household cleaning products in developing and tropical countries. Here, we present the development of an affordable, cost-effective and robust sampling method that enables the speciation and accurate quantification of VOCs content in FCs by allowing the volatilisation of liquid samples without altering their composition. The VOC content was analysed in seven FC, where in 1-R-⍺-Pinene, (−)-β-Pinene, Terpinolene, Limonene, ɣ-Terpinene, (+)-Fenchyl alcohol, (−)-Camphor and (−)-Borneol, and Benzene, Toluene, p-Isopropyltoluene were identified and quantified. For the method developed we report: the sampling system design, blank analyses, speciation resolution, optimal sampling conditions, calibration curves of the quantified monoterpenes and aromatic compounds, recovery %, precision of the method as $\%CV$, and the limits of detection and quantification. The VOCs were collected in sampling tubes packed with Tenax TA® and analysed by thermal desorption with cryofocus and ballistic thermal desorption into a GC-MS.

Calibration curves for all compounds showed correlations of R² > 0.990 between the instrument response and the concentrations of all quantified VOCs. The developed method exhibited an average recovery rate of 90%. The VOC concentrations in the analysed FCs ranged from 1 to 259 mg l⁻¹ for benzene and limonene, respectively. The determined limits of quantification for all the sampled VOCs were higher than their respective limits of detection, confirming that the method is suitable for its intended use.