EPA Method TO-15
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View Actual EPA Method TO-15 (PDF File)
Description:
The atmosphere is sampled by introduction of air into a specially-prepared stainless steel canister. Both subatmospheric pressure and pressurized sampling modes use an initially evacuated canister. A pump ventilated sampling line is used during sample collection with most commercially available samplers. Pressurized sampling requires an additional pump to provide positive pressure to the sample canister. A sample of air is drawn through a sampling train comprised of components that regulate the rate and duration of sampling into the pre-evacuated and passivated canister.
Scope:
This method documents sampling and analytical procedures for the measurement of subsets of the 97 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are included in the 189 hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) listed in Title III of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. VOCs are defined here as organic compounds having a vapor pressure greater than 10-1 Torr at 25EC and 760 mm Hg. Table 1 is the list of the target VOCs along with their CAS number, boiling point, vapor pressure and an indication of their membership in both the list of VOCs covered by Compendium Method TO-14A (1) and the list of VOCs in EPA's Contract Laboratory Program (CLP) document entitled: Statement-of-Work (SOW) for the Analysis of Air Toxics from Superfund Sites (2). Many of these compounds have been tested for stability in concentration when stored in specially-prepared canisters (see Section 8) under conditions typical of those encountered in routine ambient air analysis. The stability of these compounds under all possible conditions is not known. However, a model to predict compound losses due to physical adsorption of VOCs on canister walls and to dissolution of VOCs in water condensed in the canisters has been developed (3). Losses due to physical adsorption require only the establishment of equilibrium between the condensed and gas phases and are generally considered short term losses, (i.e., losses occurring over minutes to hours). Losses due to chemical reactions of the VOCs with cocollected ozone or other gas phase species also account for some short term losses. Chemical reactions between VOCs and substances inside the canister are generally assumed to cause the gradual decrease of concentration over time (i.e., long term losses over days to weeks). Loss mechanisms such as aqueous hydrolysis and biological degradation (4) also exist. No models are currently known to be available to estimate and characterize all these potential losses, although a number of experimental observations are referenced in Section 8. Some of the VOCs listed in Title III have short atmospheric lifetimes and may not be present except near sources.
Test Description:
VOCs Collected in Ca
Report Number:
625/R-96-010b
Date Issued:
January 1999 second editi
Instrument used for this test:
GCMS
At least 96 analytes can be tested by Columbia Analytical using EPA Method TO-15. Please contact us for all available analytes which can be tested by method TO-15.
Columbia Analytical may offer testing for method TO-15 at these laboratories:
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Rochester, New York Laboratory |
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Simi Valley, California Laboratory |
| Examples: | 8260 TO-15 | |
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| Examples: | Dioxin Mercury |
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