Calibration of a passive air sampler for volatile organic contaminants

One of the largest environmental challenges today is the ubiquitous presence of organic contaminants in all parts of the environment. Organic contaminants are defined by their toxicity, their ability to accumulate in living organisms, their slow environme ntal degradation rate and their potential for long-range transport. There are now restrictions for use of the classical contaminants, but there are many emerging contaminants which we still do not have enough knowledge about. These compounds often have di fferent properties than the classical contaminants, and thus development of new scientific methods is necessary to learn more about their environmental fate and behavior. Cyclic Volatile Methyl Siloxanes (cVMS) is such a group of compounds. They are prese nt in a wide range of technical applications and personal care products. Due to their high volatility, the atmosphere is a key compartment to understand their persistence and potential for long-range transport. This project aims to calibrate a cost-effici ent passive air sampling system, based on the polystyrene-divinylbenzene resin XAD, for cVMS. The sampler can possibly also be applied for other volatile emerging contaminants, and can hopefully be integrated into future research and monitoring campaigns. This method development will be a cooperation between researchers in Norway (Norwegian Institute for Air Research, NILU, and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, UMB) and Canada (University of Toronto Scarborough, UTSC). While UTSC has developed th e air sampler in question, NILU has considerable experience with cVMS analysis, and residing in Arctic countries they are sharing a mutual interest in long-range transport of contaminants. The project will be carried out in Canada by a Norwegian PhD-stude nt, and is expected to greatly contribute to her scientific education, strengthen the relationship between the involved parties, and to be of significant value and interest for the greater scientific community.