In situ quantification and tracking of volatile organic compounds with a portable mass spectrometer in tropical waste and urban sites

ABSTRACT

This study outlines an experimental method for landfill volatile organic compounds (VOCs) characterization by means of a portable time-of-flight mass spectrometer in an insular tropical environment. The concentrations of six VOCs, three aromatic and three chlorinated compounds, frequently identified in landfill gas plume were determined in the main municipal solid waste of Guadeloupe archipelago and its surrounding areas (in the Leeward Islands). Measurements were carried out for various stages of waste degradation. Without mechanical forcing on the waste piles, the results for aromatic and chlorinated compounds showed much higher concentrations at covered waste. Benzene, toluene and ethylbenzene were easily detected by the portable mass spectrometer in the air matrix with concentrations significantly greater than the equipment limit of detection (LOD) estimates. Trichloroethylene is not often measured by the mass spectrometer and very few calculated concentrations reach the instrument LOD. For sites near the landfill, using the sum trichloroethylene + tetrachlororethylene as tracer, it was observed that the most affected locations are under the wind of the landfill plume. Moreover, under certain atmospheric conditions, most of the surrounding area, downwind and upwind, can undergo an increase of the tracer concentration levels, as shown in the paper during a dust outbreak.

KEYWORDS:

• VOCs
• waste plume
• portable mass spectrometer
• tropical environment
• dust outbreak

Acknowledgements

Firstly, we want to thank Kore Technology company and more specifically Dr Fraser Reich for his invaluable assistance in preparing the spectrometer and for his technical and scientific support. We also take this opportunity to thank Séché Environment for facilitating our works by making large areas of the landfill site accessible to us. The authors thank Ms Phibel Malika for her technical informations, Laboratory Qualitrop members for helping in spectrometer calibration, Météo France and Gwad’Air for providing meteorological and air quality data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.