Yes you can and its very common APM 550 sampler from envirotech delhi is for the same. Use Glass fiber filter paper rather than Teflon one for PAHs analysis.

http://envirotechindia.com/apm-550.html

http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/aldrich/z132101?lang=en®ion=IN

Thank you Mahesh, but it is recommended to use high volume sampler both by EPA and Central Pollution Control Board, India. it is recommended to do sampling for 24 hours with a flow rate of 1.2m3/min, however the flow rate of APM 550 is 1m3/hr only. Again, another point of my concern is whether we will get enough exposure on small circular filter with such low flow rate or not? Kindly suggest and give links of some papers where it is done by low volume sampling devices, if possible.

It is not necessary that work should be done in earlier you try . For PAHs 24 m3 air is sufficient as they are ubiquitous. And if u want strictly your work to compare EPA or CPCB then you have to follow their SOPs/guideline.

Thanks Mahesh, We will try with APM 550.

Hello Manish

It depends how much mass you get with this sampler. Make a test first !

Even with low-volume 24h sampling you get enough mass to determine majority of the PAH of interest using MS detector in gas chromatography. Your should rather specify which PAH's are you intend to determine. Particulate/gaseous distribution of PAH's significantly vary with ambient air temperature. It means, you can expect PAH's with standard vapor pressure >10-5 Pa, at say 35oC of ambient temperature , being mostly in gaseous phase. So analytical detection limits of those PAH's should not be of your interest.

Hi Perola, yes of course. it is the mass which is important. That is why I was concerned whether we would get enough mass or not? I think Jan has cleared the things. Though I have never tried with low volume samplers, but certainly we will try. Thanks.

@Jan, Thank you very much for your suggestions. We will try.

Hello Manish.

If you are going to measure PAHs in urban air in India, there will most likely be no problems with LODs. At some remote sites the problems with detection limits may arise.

We are measuring PAHs in ambient air at Finnish background sites, daily sampling with low-volume samplers (2.3m3/hour) and analysis GC-MS. Our quantification limit for benzo(a)pyrene is around 0.06ngm-3 while typical monthly average b(a)p concentrations in air are between below detection limit at the really pure remote site in summertime to around one nanogram per cubic meter during wintertime at some suburban sites in areas with relatively high amount of wood burning.

Hi Mika,

Thank you for adding information. Here we have a different set of environmental conditions. The city of Banaras is extremely polluted but the University campus (our sampling site) is relatively clean. the difference of temperature between outside and inside campus reaches even 5 degree Celsius in summers due to lush green campus but we can expect positive results as biomass burning and other such activities are prominent in adjoining areas.

If you email me ([email protected]), I will send you a published paper with a peer-reviewed method for smaller air samples collected on 47mm filters.

Thank you very much Roy Harrison sir. I have read many of your papers and used them for my literature review including that one with Pallavi Pant on Receptor Modelling. It was very helpful. I will certainly mail you for the paper.

Dear Manish, we also uses a low volume sampler with 47 mm diameter filters. We calculated the face velocity and was in the recomended range for minimizing the sampling artifacts. The problem is the LOD of the technique you are using. May ben you can made a test and see if 24 h of sampling is enough. Then do more test using other (higher) sampling times. Hope you may do it. Also, your type of filter most be taken into consideration.

Hello Manish

It depends on PAH mass you expect.

In Turin, which is one of the most PM polluted city in Europe, we use EN 12341 samplers (2.5 m3/h flow rate) . The benzo(a)pyrene yearly mean is about 0.7-0.9 ng/m3

Thanks Francesco