MAK Commission: Ethylene oxide - Method for the determination of ethylene oxide in workplace air using gas chromatography after thermal desorption

This analytical method is a validated measurement procedure for the determination of ethylene oxide [75-21-8] in workplace air averaged over the sampling period after personal or stationary sampling. A defined volume of air is drawn through two adsorption tubes packed with Chromosorb 106 and connected in series. For sampling the flow rate of the flow-regulated pump is set to 5 ml/min with an air sample volume of 200 ml (which corresponds to a sampling period of 40 min). For the following analysis the ethylene oxide is thermally desorbed and analysed by means of gas chromatography (GC) with a flame ionisation detector (FID). The quantitative evaluation is based on a calibration function obtained by means of a multiple-point calibration. The relative limit of quantification (LOQ) is 15 μg/m³ ethylene oxide for an air sample volume of 200 ml. The mean recovery was 100% and the expanded uncertainties were between 24 and 27% over the entire measurement range.

Bibliographic information

Title:  MAK Commission: Ethylene oxide - Method for the determination of ethylene oxide in workplace air using gas chromatography after thermal desorption. Air Monitoring Method

Written by:  M. Tschickardt, T. H. Brock, R. Hebisch, A. Hartwig

in: The MAK Collection for Occupational Health and Safety, Vol 7, No 1, 2022.  pages: 1-9, DOI: 10.34865/am7521ae7_1or

Download file "MAK Commission: Ethylene oxide - Method for the determination of ethylene oxide in workplace air using gas chromatography after thermal desorption" (PDF, 500 KB, Not barrier-free file)

Further Publications

MAK Commission: Ethylene oxide - Method for the determination of ethylene oxide in workplace air using gas chromatography after solvent desorption

Essay 2022

This analytical method is a validated measurement procedure for the determination of ethylene oxide [75-21-8] in workplace air averaged over the sampling period after personal or stationary sampling. Sampling is performed by drawing air through a tube filled with activated charcoal. The flow is …

To the Publication

Further Information