Evaluation and Experience with the Use of a Combined Impinger and Canister Method for the Measurement of HAP Emissions from Wood Products, 1998 Environmental Conference Proceedings

MaryAnn Gunshefski, Steven L. Cloutier, Robert J. Crawford, James E. Stainfield, David H. Word, T. Ward Dickens--To meet the specific needs of the Industry-Funded Wood Products MACT Study, a unique test method was developed for speciation of volatile and semivolatile polar and non-polar compounds included on the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments list of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). Additionally, non-HAP compounds such as terpenes, which may have a significant contribution to a mill’s total VOC emissions, are also speciated by this method. This method involves drawing a sample of the source gas through chilled aqueous impingers. A Teflon-head pump and a critical orifice are used to maintain a flow through the impingers of approximately 400 mL/min. A portion of the gas exiting the pump is drawn into an evacuated stainless steel canister for analysis of compounds that are not trapped in the aqueous impingers. The impinger contents are analyzed by gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC/FID). The canister contents are analyzed by GC, with cryogenic preconcentration, followed by mass selective detection. The preliminary results obtained via this method indicate that its performance is very good for wood products sources.