Nadine - 4-6-2016 at 03:27
hello,
i am new to air quality field, i have a week of data measuring VOC in air ambient using the PTR-MS, 40 compounds that were detected, my question is:
what type of information i can extract from this set of data, and what major compounds should i be following?
Thank you
Metacelsus - 4-6-2016 at 07:44
You can identify the compounds by m/z, and determine their concentrations. The compounds that you should be following depend on your specific purpose,
but I would suggest things like acetone, toluene, isoprene, methanol, formaldehyde, etc.
Nadine - 4-6-2016 at 08:50
i have no issue defining which pic belongs belongs to which compound. i have no specific purpose actually iam loking for a purpose, what can i do with
the data?
when i asked about the major compounds that should i be following, it was to determine the type of source of pollution, anthropogenic or biogenic.
aga - 4-6-2016 at 08:56
Impossible to say, as you have no specific aim.
smerg - 4-6-2016 at 20:52
I would think you need to do some research about the potential sources of your VOC's and make a determination based on the concentration of each VOC
if the probable source is natural, pollution etc. then if you have a data point that is out of trend you may want to investigate it further. For
example if methane is extremely high one day you may be detecting a giant natural gas leak in los angeles 
. Or if tetraflouroethane is high you may be seeing alot of peoples car air conditioners explode in the vicinity of
your testing equipment. the possibilities are endless.
I am not entirely sure what compounds a PTR-MS can detect as most of my analytical experience involce EI-MS so i have no idea what the identities of
the 40 compounds may be. you may want to share some data and mabye someone will be able to help you draw some conclusions about it....
Nadine - 11-6-2016 at 15:40
the ptr ms detect VOC that has a protonic affinity higher than that of water.
beside benzene and toluene that refers to anthropogenic pollution and isoprene and monoterpene that refers to biogenic pollution, what others
compounds can i follow to make assure the hypothesis i making about the type of pollution could be correct?
how can i explore the data more and have more informations?
SMERG: please send me you email yo share the data.