Passive dosimetry as an alternative technique to dynamic enrichment of organic pollutants of indoor air

Evaluation of the quality of indoor air was carried out in 20 apartments, 3 offices, and 3 laboratories in the Tricity area in Poland with reference to concentrations of selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as benzene, toluene, butyl acetate, ethylbenzene, m-xylene, styrene, and m-dichlorobenzene. The time dependence of concentrations of selected VOCs in a newly erected building was studied. Two different techniques were used for the isolation and preconcentration of analytes from air samples: a passive method employing a home-made permeation-type passive sampler and a dynamic method based on a sorption tube. In both cases, activated charcoal was used as a sorption medium (trap packing). The sorption tube was used to validate the results obtained by the passive method, as well. In the majority of dwellings examined, the concentrations of air pollutants were relatively low and did not exceed the MAC values. No significant differences were observed between MAC concentrations determined by using the passive or the dynamic method of air sampling. The results obtained by both sampling methods were characterized by similar precision.