Membrane in tandem with a helical sorbent trap as continuous sampling technique of the polyvinyl chloride thermo-oxidative degradation products for their on-line gas chromatographic monitoring

A flat membrane in tandem with a helical sorbent trap has been used for continuous sampling of the volatile organic products generated in the thermal degradation process of the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in air, followed by on-line gas chromatographic separation and mass spectrometric identification. The membrane and trap tandem makes automatic collection, concentration, and injection of PVC volatile and semivolatile degradation products, and it is simple in terms of instrumentation and operation. The poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) membrane used in this study shows a low permeation for oxygenated derivatives and a high permeation for volatile aromatic and non-aromatic hydrocarbon, and chlorinated hydrocarbons. Consequently, the final chromatogram is significantly simplified. By heating the trap at fixed intervals of time, consecutive gas chromatograms are obtained in the monitoring process. The sensitivity of the method depends on the parameters that affect the time of trapping, and the permeation through the membrane. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.