• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.515-524
• /
• 2005

In this study, the concentrations of major reduced sulfur compounds (RSC: $H_{2}S,\;CH_{3}SH$, DMS, $CS_2$ and DMDS) were determined from various emission sources of individual companies located within the Ban Wal industrial complex of Ansan city, Korea. We investigated the emission concentration levels of RSC from a total of 47 individual companies during June 2004 to January 2005. The results of our study indicate that the emission concentration levels of RSC vary in a highly complicated manner in relation with industrial sectors and emission source types. It was found that both $H_{2}S\;and\;CH_{3}SH$ make the highest contribution to nuisance in the leather industry. Likewise, DMS showed its maximum contribution from food production sector, while DMDS for chemical production sector. When the emission data sets were compared between different emission sources, regardless of industrial types or activities, $H_{2}S\;and\;CH_{3}SH$ concentrations were seen most significant at waste treatment process. The overall results of our study suggest that the emission concentrations of sulfur compounds can be used to distinguish different sources of malodor released by different industrial activities.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.647-654
• /
• 2004

This study examines the local oxidation chemistry of reduced sulfur compounds (RSC) in the urban air. The chemical conversion of RSC (such as DMS, $CS_2,\;H_2S,\;DMDS,\;and\;CH_3SH)\;to\;SO_2$ was modeled using a photochemical box model. For our model prediction of the RSC oxidation, measurements were carried out from an urban monitoring station in Seoul (37.6$^{\circ}$N, 127.0$^{\circ}$E), Korea for three separate time periods (Sep. 17~18; Oct 23; and Oct. 27~28, 2003). The results of our measurements indicated that DMS and $H_2S$ were the dominant RSC with their concentrations of 370${\pm}$140 and 110${\pm}$60 pptv, respectively. The conversion of DMDS to $SO_2$ can occur efficiently in comparison to other RSC, but it is not abundant enough to affect their cycles. The overall results of our study indicate that the photochemical conversion of the RSC can contribute ≶ 20% of the observed $SO_2$.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.281-290
• /
• 2011

In this study, a series of experiments were carried out to measure temporal stability of reduced sulfur compounds (RSCs) in Tedlar bag samples as a function of elapsed storage time. To this end, temporal variability of 4 RSC standard gases ($H_2S$, $CH_3SH$, DMS, DMDS) was measured up to 29 days. For the purpose of comparison, RSC samples were stored in both individual and mixed state. In the case of mixed standard, samples were also examined to allow comparison between light and dark condition. Then results of $CH_3SH$ data were the most stable with the least change in its concentrations through the end of exps (29 days). When compared with previous studies, the extent of stability appeared to be influenced by the initial concentration levels of samples. When the patterns were compared between individual and mixture samples, differences were not significant in the case of $H_2S$ and DMS. The effects of light conditions on temporal stability were seen to be fairly sensitive on most RSC other than $H_2S$. The results of our study confirm that the stability of RSC storage is affected by their involvement in photochemical reactions.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.25 no.6
• /
• pp.512-522
• /
• 2009

In this study, the removal efficiency of trimethylamine (TMA) and four reduced sulfur compounds (RSC) of $H_2S$, $CH_3SH$, DMS, and DMDS was investigated using deionized water as absorbent. To this end, two types of experiments were conducted which include: (1) by passing both RSC and TMA standard gases through water contained in an impinger system and (2) by passing TMA gases through a water spray system. In the former method, TMA standard gases were effectively removed (below detection limit) in all experiments. Likewise, minor fractions of some RSC ($CH_3SH$, DMS, and DMDS) were removed by water in line with theoretical expectations. In addition, the first type of our experiment was extended further to test some commercially available odor treatment products. The results of this test showed that removal efficiencies of RSC $(8.2\pm13.7\sim43.7\pm2.48%)$ were different significantly among 4 kinds of absorbent, while the removal of TMA was consistently good as water. In the second phase of experiment, removal efficiency of TMA was tested by passing its standard gas through a water spray system. The overall results of our study showed that the actual removal efficiency of odorants by water (as sorptive media) approached the values that can be predicted theoretically (by Henry's law).

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.249-257
• /
• 2006

In this work, the adsorptive and desorptive behavior of reduced sulfur compounds (RSC) was investigated using the combination of the Peltier cooling (PC)/thermal desorption (TD) unit with the gas chromatographic (GC) detection technique. To examine the adsorptive characteristics of RSC on clothing materials, a total of nine experiments were conducted in a stepwise manner. Once small towel pieces are exposed to significant quantities of RSC standards with high concentrations (10 ppm), the desoprtion stage was then induced by deloading RSC with ultrapure $N_2$ at three different flow rates (FR) of 20, 40, and 60 mL/min. At each FR, the total deloading volume of 400, 800, and 1,600 mL were maintained. These results were then compared in terms of odoring efficiency by dividing the total amount of desorption with the total amount used for exposition or RSC loading. The results indicated that desorption reaction of certain compounds ($CH_3SH$ and DMS) can be influenced significantly with the reducing FR, while they are not affected directly by the total deloading volume. In addition, when the extent of adsorption was compared for most S compounds by the odoring efficiency term, the extent of absorption generally occurred at approximately 1/1000 level of original exposition.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.24-35
• /
• 2010

To learn more about the calibration properties of reduced sulfur compounds (RSCs) by the combination of gas chromatography(GC)-pulsed flame photometric detector (PFPD) and thermal desorption method, a series of calibration experiments were conducted on the basis of both internal and external calibration approaches. For these experiments, gaseous standards of 4 RSCs ($H_2S$, $CH_3SH$, DMS, and DMDS) were prepared at two different concentration levels of both low (10, 20, 50,and 100 ppb) and high ranges (100, 200, 500, and 1000 ppb) along with $CS_2$ as an internal standard. First, the external calibration results were compared between fixed standard volume (FSV) and fixed standard concentration (FSC) method. Secondly, FSV-based calibration results were compared between external and internal calibration results. As FSV method suffers from sensitivity variations less significantly than FSC, the former is recommended to maintain the consistency in GC-TD sensitivity for RSC analysis. In addition, when the calibration data were examined in terms of RSE between external and internal calibration data, the results were not consistent enough to show improvements in internal method. Hence, diverse efforts are desirable to optimize the reproducibility in terms of GC-TD sensitivity for RSC analysis.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.306-315
• /
• 2012

In this study, storage stability of reduced sulfur compounds ($H_2S$, $CH_3SH$, DMS, $CS_2$, and DMDS) and $SO_2$ in sampling bags was investigated in terms of two contrasting storage approaches between forward (F) and reverse (R) direction. The samples for the F method were prepared at the same time and analyzed sequentially through time. In contrast, those of reverse (R) method were prepared sequentially in advance and analyzed all at once upon the preparation of the last sample. In addition, relative performance between two different bag materials (PVF and PEA) was also assessed by using 100 ppb standard. The response factors (RF) of gaseous RSC samples were determined by gas chromatography/pulsed flame photometric detector (GC/PFPD) combined with air server (AS)/thermal desorber (TD) system at storage intervals of 0, 1, and 3 days. There is no statistical difference in all RSCs between two storage methods. However, the results of relative recovery indicated 2.58~12.8% differences in compound type between the two storage methods. Moreover, loss rates and storage stability of $H_2S$ and $SO_2$ were considerably affected by bag materials than any other variables. Therefore, some considerations about storage methods (or bag material types) for sulfur compounds are needed if stored by sampling bag method.

• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.65-72
• /
• 2006

In this study, the filtering characteristics of sulfur gases were investigated from a number of respects. For the purpose of this study, a standard gas containing a single oxidized S ($SO_2$) and five reduced S compounds (RSCs) including $H_2S$, $CH_3SH$, DMS, $CS_2$, and DMDS was prepared. After flowing this standard gas through a glass fiber filter, its removal efficiencies were examined by comparing the concentrations between prior to and after its passage. The results indicated that almost complete removal of $SO_2$ was achieved by this filtering, while the patterns for RSCs were distinguished by such factors as molecular weight or reactivity. It was found that about 60% of the most reactive RSC, $H_2S$ was removed by filter, while the heavy RSC generally showed removal rate of about 5% or less.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.39-49
• /
• 2007

In this study, the performance characteristics of solid phase microextraction (SPME) were investigated for three major odorous groups that consist of 10 individual compounds ([1] volatile organic compounds (VOC): benzene, toluene, p-xylene and styrene, [2] reduced sulfur compounds (RSC): hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan, dimethylsulfide (DMS), dimethyldisulfide (DMDS), and carbon disulfide, and [3] amine: trimethylamine (TMA)). For the purpose of a comparative analysis, two types of SPME fiber ([1] polidimethylsiloxane/divinilbenzene (P/D) and [2] $Carboxen^{TM}$/polidimethylsiloxane (C/P)) were test ε d against each other for a series of standards prepared at different concentration levels (100, 200, and 500 ppb). To compare the analytical performance of each fiber, all standards were analyzed for the acquisition of calibration data sets for each compound. The results of P/D fiber generally showed that its calibration slope increased as a function of molecular weight across different VOCs; however, those of C/P fiber showed a fairly reversed trend. Besides, we confirmed that the application of SPME is limited to many sulfur compounds; only two compounds (DMS and DMDS) are sensitive enough to draw calibration results out of SPME. The calibration data for RSC show generally enhanced slop values for C/P relative to P/D fiber. However, in the case of TMA, we were not able to find a notable difference in their performance.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.454-459
• /
• 2011

In this study, the recovery rate of Tedlar bag (T) sampler was investigated in comparison to polyester aluminum bag (P) sampler. To derive the comparative data sets for the relative performance between different samplers, a series of calibration experiments were performed by using 1 ppb standard of four offensive reduced sulfur compounds (RSC) odorants ($H_2S$, $CH_3SH$, DMS, and DMDS) along with $SO_2$ and $CS_2$. All the analysis was made by gas chromatography/pulsed flame photometric detector (GC/PFPD) combined with air server/thermal desorber (AS/TD). The measurement data were obtained by loading gaseous standards (1 ppb) at 3 injection volumes (250, 500 and 1,000 mL) at three intervals (0, 24 and 72 hrs). The recovery rates (RR) of P sampler were computed against the slope values of T sampler. According to our analysis, P sampler exhibits slightly enhanced loss relative to T, especially with light RSCs ($H_2S$ and $CH_3SH$). At day 0, RR for the two were 88 and 85%, respectively. Such reduction proceeded rather rapidly in the case of $H_2S$ through time. However, P sampler was more stable to store $SO_2$ unlike others. Despite slightly reduced recovery, P sampler appears as a good replacement of T sampler.