Stability of gaseous volatile organic compounds contained in gas cylinders with different internal wall treatments.

Measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been ongoing for decades to track growth rates and assist in curbing emissions of these compounds into the atmosphere. To accurately establish mole fraction trends and assess the role of these gas-phase compounds in atmospheric chemistry it is essential to have good calibration standards. A necessity and precursor to accurate VOC gas standards are the gas cylinders and the internal wall treatments that aid in maintaining the stability of the mixtures over long periods of time, measured in years.

Highly accurate nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in nitrogen standards based on permeation.

The development and operation of a highly accurate primary gas facility for the dynamic production of mixtures of nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)) in nitrogen (N(2)) based on continuous weighing of a permeation tube and accurate impurity quantification and correction of the gas mixtures using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) is described. NO(2) gas mixtures in the range of 5 μmol mol(-1) to 15 μmol mol(-1) with a standard relative uncertainty of 0.4% can be produced with this facility.