Development of a continuous monitor for detection of toxic organic compounds

The goal of the present program was the design, construction, and delivery to EMSL/RTP of a small continuous monitor for benzene and other organic compounds based upon Tunable Atomic Line Molecular Spectroscopy. The most limiting design factor was found to be the detection limit of the instrument. To improve this limiting factor, some new developments were investigated. These developments have improved the sensitivity of the TALMS benzene monitor by a factor of 100 to a detection limit of 3 ppm-v benzene. The instrument that was delivered to EMSL/RTP is compact in size (41 inches in length) and weight (75 lbs.) and requires a modest amount of power (125 watts). It was supplied with a permanent magnet of field strength 7 kG (0.7T) and utilizes the Hg 253.6 nm line.