Determination of response factors for GC/MS of 64 volatile organic compounds for measuring TVOC

The determination of a TVOC value as described in the ECA report No. 19 [1] turns to an analytical procedure that allows a summation of a multitude of substances. The exact determination of a number of at least 64 compounds is demanded, which can be a tedious task and it is controversial if the effort is appropriate. If, however, it is possible that the determination is done automatically, e.g. by identification and automatic integration of the gas chromatograms, the situation might be different. To achieve this it is important to find out if response factors for the given compounds are reproducible for different conditions and different GC/MS equipment. As a first step response factors have been determined on different gas chromatographs and mass selective detectors. The impact of temperature programs, tuning, thermal desorption conditions and the treatment of standards on response factors has been investigated.