Sulfonation of divinylbenzene adsorbents packed in a micro sampler to extract airborne organic compounds

In this work, sulfonated divinylbenzene (SDVB) adsorbents, with the 60–80 mesh diameter, were packed inside a 22-gauge stainless steel needle to fabricate a sulfonated needle trap sampler (SNTS), which is a micro sampler. An analysis of Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) scanning data, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) data, and scanning electron microscopice (SEM) observations, confirmed the physiochemical characteristics of sulfonated DVB adsorbent resins. A gas mixture of approximately 20 ppm of ethanol, methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene (BTEX) was prepared to evaluate the sampling efficacies of the SNTS. The results reveal that, in 1–2 h, SNTS adsorbed increased 92–116% more methanol and 12–20% more MEK than NTS. The SNTS adsorbed 4–15% less BTEX than the NTS. The tested SNTS exhibited remarkable adsorption capacities of methanol, which emitted in a metal frame manufacturing plant. The SNTS is recommended as an alternative passive sampler to the active adsorbent tubes.