EVALUATION OF AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF TOTAL VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUNDS IN COATINGS AND PAINTS BY ATD/FID

摘要

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is investigating an alternative method for the measurement of total volatile organic compounds (VOC) in coatings and paints for use with low VOC materials where the EPA standard Method 24 is problematic. The proposed alternative method uses an automated thermal desorber (ATD) to collect VOC from a sample at 110℃, mimicking the oven temperature in Method 24. A flame ionization detector (FID) is used to quantify total VOC, applying a FID response factor correction for result reporting. The objectives of this work are to evaluate the method for ease of operation, calibration, ruggedness, reproducibility, etc., and to evaluate the effects of various factors on VOC results. The studies concluded that by using 110℃ for ATD sampling, the percent-detected value of a VOC highly depends on the volatility of the VOC and sample matrix. However, it is believed that with slight modification, the ATD/FED method can be an appropriate alternative method for Method 24 under the same volatility definition and it is suitable for the measurement of VOC content in both waterborne and solvent-based coatings and paints. This paper will present the results of various evaluation studies.