Evaluating emission levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from organic materials by analytical pyrolysis

A procedure in off-line analytical pyrolysis was investigated for the rapid determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) evolved from thermal degradation of organic materials. Samples spiked with perdeuterated PAHs were pyrolysed at 1000 °C for 60 s by means of a resistively heated filament pyrolyser inserted into a glass chamber connected to a cartridge with a sorbent (XAD-2 resin). PAHs trapped onto the resin were extracted with dichloromethane and analysed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). The analytical performance of the overall procedure (precision, recovery, effect of experimental parameters) was evaluated by pyrolysing a bituminous coal certified reference material (CRM). Emission levels of naphthalene, 1-methylnaphthalene, 2-methylnaphthalene, acenaphtylene, acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, pyrene were determined for bituminous and anthracite coals, tyre, and cellulose. Despite some limitations, the method was adequate to the purpose of quantitatively measuring the tendency of various materials to release volatile PAHs upon heating.