Thermal desorption pre-concentrator based system to assess carbon dioxide contamination by benzene

A new multisensor system based on a thermal desorption pre-concentrator has been used jointly with a tin oxide gas sensor array to asses the contamination of carbon dioxide by benzene. The results obtained show that using this type of pre-concentrator, it is possible to detect benzene at ppb levels even in the presence of other pollutants at ppm levels.The system uses a Carbopack B unit that absorbs benzene traces and then releases them concentrated in a factor greater than 200 and is capable of classifying benzene samples down to 10 ppb in a CO2 flow with different volatile interferences. The e-nose reached a 100% success rate in the classification and identification of the benzene, CO2 and pollutants. These results show that e-nose technology can be a useful tool as quality control in the beverage industry.