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挥发性有机物(VOCs)的高灵敏在线监测在大气污染过程监测与溯源、化工园区VOCs溯源与突发事件应急监测以及痕量毒品和炸药的安检等多个领域均起到重要作用[1-2]。尤其在环境领域,VOCs不仅作为室内室外污染中的一次污染物,危害人体健康,还可在大气光氧化条件下产生灰霾和臭氧等二次污染[3-4]。另外,一些VOCs具有极低的嗅阈值,较低的空气浓度即可对人体嗅觉感官造成强烈刺激,引发臭味污染问题。在我国,恶臭投诉事件相当频繁,仅次于噪声的投诉事件,排在第二位,且呈逐年递增的趋势[5-7]。因此,发展VOCs高灵敏在线监测技术对大气污染防控、减少环境污染事件对社会的负面影响具有重要意义。
近年来,质谱技术的飞速发展为VOCs的高灵敏在线监测提供了一种有效的技术手段。目前,用于VOCs直接、在线监测的VOC质谱仪主要包括基于电子电离(EI)、化学电离(CI)和单光子电离(SPI)技术的单质谱[8-14]。其中,发展较成熟的高灵敏VOC质谱为质子转移质谱(PTR-MS),属于化学电离质谱的一种。该仪器可以检测体积分数为10−12量级的VOCs[15-19],已被很多国际一流团队用于实验室及外场VOCs的直接在线测量。与CI相比,SPI属于一种特别的软电离技术[20],它最大的特点是电离方式简单:任何电离能(IE)低于光子能量的原子或分子都会在真空紫外(VUV)灯的辐照下直接电离,生成一个带正电荷的待测物阳离子。SPI具有分子离子产率高、碎片少、质谱简洁、线性动态范围较宽、对极性和非极性有机物都适用等独特优势,非常适合实际VOCs混合样品的直接、在线监测[21]。
在SPI-MS中,VUV光源的产生方式和光子通量对仪器的适用性和检测灵敏度至关重要[21]。大型VUV光源(如同步辐射光源[22-25]和基于激光器的光源[26-27])可以实现高光束密度,但是由于其成本高、体积大和操作复杂等原因,只能用于实验室研究。为了满足常规监测仪器的需要,SPI相关的监测仪器通常使用体积小、携带方便的VUV灯作为SPI光源。常用的VUV灯主要包括直流放电灯和射频放电灯,分别使用直流或射频放电激发低压Kr气产生10 eV的VUV光[28]。然而,目前使用较广泛的商用VUV灯的光子通量约为1011 s−1[29-30],导致SPI离子源的电离效率以及相应的SPI-MS的检测灵敏度较低,成为阻碍SPI-MS发展为高灵敏商用VOC质谱仪的主要因素之一。
为了提高SPI-MS的检测性能,众多研究者在发展新型光电离源方面开展了大量工作。已有研究[31-34]表明,研制新型VUV灯,提高光子通量,是提升SPI-MS检测性能的一种途径。MUHIBERGER等[32-35]开发了一系列电子束激发稀有气体灯,光子通量达到了1013~1016 s−1,将电子束激发稀有气体灯与小型飞行时间质谱(TOFMS)或四级杆质谱(QMS)联用,能够在线检测体积分数为10−9以上的气态有机物。另外一种提升SPI-MS检测灵敏度的途径是增加SPI离子源内的压力[36-39],由此衍生出的技术包括低压光电离(LPPI)和高压光电离(HPPI)技术,相应的电离区压力为几十~几千Pa。SUN等[40]和LI等[41]使用光子通量为1014 s−1的射频VUV灯研制了1台低气压SPI-TOFMS,离子源内气压为500~1 000 Pa,在检测体积分数为10−9的气相苯系物时,10 s内的信号强度可达到5 000,有效提升了SPI-MS的检测灵敏度。然而,该仪器是概念型样机,体积较大,难以用于外场实地VOCs的在线监测。
本研究在已有研究的基础上,基于高通量射频VUV灯、低气压光电离离子源和飞行时间质谱技术,研制出1台紧凑型高灵敏SPI-TOFMS,用苯标准气体对SPI-TOFMS的检测灵敏度、检测限、检测精确度和准确度进行性能测试,考察SPI-TOFMS在农药污染场地异味气体检测中的应用效果,验证SPI-TOFMS在实地VOCs混合物快速检测上的优势及定量能力,以期为环境科学与工程领域涉及的VOCs高灵敏在线监测提供技术支撑。
紧凑型高灵敏真空紫外单光子电离飞行时间质谱仪的研制及其在污染场地异味分析中的应用
Development of a compact and highly sensitive vacuum ultraviolet single-photon-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer and its application in odorous analysis of a contaminated site
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摘要: 真空紫外单光子电离质谱仪(SPI-MS)在挥发性有机物(VOCs)在线监测方面具有独特优势,然而目前常用的SPI-MS灵敏度普遍较低,限制了SPI-MS在环境监测领域的广泛应用。为了有效提高SPI-MS的检测灵敏度,达到实时在线监测环境中痕量VOCs的目的,采用自制的高通量真空紫外灯,结合低气压光电离技术和飞行时间质谱技术,研制了1台紧凑型高灵敏真空紫外单光子电离飞行时间质谱仪(SPI-TOFMS),并使用SPI-TOFMS和吹扫捕集气相色谱质谱(P&T GC-MS)标准方法对农药污染场地释放的异味气体进行了检测分析。结果表明:在10 s的检测时间内,该仪器对气态苯具有极高的检测灵敏度,检测限(以体积分数计)低至0.09×10−12,检测准确度为95%~109%,精确度的标准偏差小于8%;在农药场地异味气体分析中,SPI-TOFMS不仅在极短的检测时间内(10 s)检测到甲硫醇、二甲基硫和二甲基二硫等典型异味物质,还检测到更多未被P&T GC-MS标准方法检测到的异味物质,如吡咯烷、吡啶、乙基丙胺、苯胺、邻苯二胺和硝基苯等;SPI-TOFMS与P&T GC-MS 2种方法对异味样品主要成分(二甲基二硫)的定量分析结果具有良好的一致性。本研究研制的紧凑型SPI-TOFMS与同类型仪器相比,检测灵敏度有了大幅提高,可为实验室模拟研究及外场环境中痕量VOCs的实时在线监测提供一种高效的技术方法。Abstract: Vacuum ultraviolet single photon ionization mass spectrometer (SPI-MS) has unique advantages in on-line monitoring of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). However, the low sensitivity of the commonly used SPI-MS limits its wide application in environmental monitoring. In order to effectively improve the detection sensitivity of SPI-MS and realize the goal of real-time online monitoring of trace VOCs in the environment, a compact and highly sensitive vacuum ultraviolet single-photon-ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (SPI-TOFMS) was developed using a high-flux vacuum ultraviolet lamp combining with low-pressure photoionization technology and compact time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Then the SPI-TOFMS and purge-and-trap gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (P&T GC-MS) standard methods were used to analyze the gas phase samples of odorous substances released from the same pesticide site. The results show that the instrument exhibited an extremely high detection sensitivity toward gaseous benzene, the detection limit (in terms of volume ratio) was as low as 0.09 × 10−12 in 10 s acquisition time, the detection accuracy was 95%~109% with standard deviations less than 8%. In the analysis of odorous gas released from a pesticide site, the SPI-TOFMS could not only detect methanethiol, dimethyl sulfur, and dimethyl disulfide in a very short detection time (10 s), but also detect more odorous that cannot be detected by P&T GC-MS standard method, such as pyrrolidine, pyridine, ethyl propyl amine, aniline, o-phenylenediamine, and nitrobenzene. The SPI-TOFMS and P&T GC-MS had a good agreement on the quantitative analysis results of the main component of the odor substances (dimethyl disulfide) in the odor samples. The compact SPI-TOFMS developed in this study has a much higher detection sensitivity compared with other analogue instruments, which can provide an efficient technical method for laboratory simulation and real-time online monitoring of trace VOCs in the field environment monitoring.
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表 1 SPI-TOFMS对苯在不同体积分数下的精准度和准确度
Table 1. Accuracy and precision of SPI-TOFMS against benzene at different volume fractions
体积分数 准确度/% 精确度/% 2×10-9 95 5 4×10-9 109 8 6×10-9 95 4 8×10-9 104 3 10×10-9 98 2 20×10-9 96 4 40×10-9 102 2 60×10-9 97 3 表 2 P&T GC-MS检测的异味气体的化学组分
Table 2. List of the chemical composition of odorous gas identified by P&T GC-MS
序号 停留时间/min 化合物 相对分子质量 定量结果(以体积分数计) 1 17.721 丙酮 58.08 13.2×10−9 2 23.538 2-丁酮 72.11 3.65×10−9 3 20.850 二硫化碳 76.14 2.57×10−9 4 32.731 甲苯 92.14 1.54×10−9 5 36.910 乙苯 106.17 1.50×10−9 6 37.274 对二甲苯 106.17 7.71×10−9 7 38.254 邻二甲苯 106.17 2.43×10−9 8 18.274 三氯氟甲烷 137.37 0.863×10−9 9 20.265 二氯甲烷 84.93 19.2×10−9 10 29.464 三氯乙烯 131.39 2.47 × 10−9 11 34.862 四氯乙烯 165.82 97.1×10−9 12 14.753 丙烷 44.1 3.87×10−9 13 24.885 正己烷 86.18 3.19×10−9 14 34.422 正辛烷 114.23 1.21 × 10−9 15 38.560 壬烷 128.26 2.51 × 10−9 16 42.473 正癸烷 142.29 1.21 × 10−9 17 25.004 三氯甲烷 119.38 21.5×10−9 18 13.564 乙烷 30.07 1.70×10−9 19 22.470 乙炔 26.04 2.61×10−9 20 14.019 乙烯 28.06 1.75×10−9 21 19.815 二甲基硫 62.13 8.29×10−9 22 31.470 二甲基二硫 94.2 84.6×10−9 -
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