Volume 46, Number 5  (September - October 2001)

Key words:  air pollutants, sample pre-treatment, PAHs concentration, gas chromatography

Organic emission  from the combustion of gasoline and oils constitutes very complex mixture of chemical compounds. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are its especially dangerous components. A methodology for determination of PAHs adsorbed on airborne particles, using high volume sampling and glass filters, is decribed in the paper. A two step extraction is applied to a filter with dust collected on it: the extraction with diethyl ether is followed by the extraction with toluene. Three method of the sample preliminary treatment for quantitative determination of PAHs were compared. The whole PAHs fraction is separated from the extract by extraction to a solid phase, and next subjected to a quantitative analysis with GC-FID and a qualitative one with GC-MS. In the whole PAHs fraction, the results of the analyses showed presence of 16 PAHs, considered as especially hazardous by EPA, as well as their methyl- and ethyl-derivatives. Moreover, by the GC-MS analysis, hydrocarbons with the molecular mass over 276 were detected.