Scientists Determine Cause of Odors in Car AC Units using GC Methods
Scientists from Kangwon National University in South Korea undertook a comprehensive study to identify the types of compounds in vehicle AC unit emissions, using gas chromatography with four types of detection: olfactometry, flame ionisation detection (FID), mass spectrometry (MS) and atomic emission detection (AED). It was conducted on a lab-scale model unit that contained a rogue AC evaporator from a vehicle that was associated with unpleasant odours and had only 4000 km on the clock.
Scientists from Kangwon National University in South Korea undertook a comprehensive study to identify the types of compounds in vehicle AC unit emissions, using GC with four types of detection: olfactometry, flame ionisation detection (FID), mass spectrometry (MS) and atomic emission detection (AED). It was conducted on a lab-scale model unit that contained a rogue AC evaporator from a vehicle that was associated with unpleasant odours and had only 4000 km on the clock. Twelve separate odor components were isolated by the sniffers. Four of these were too weak to be characterised but the remaining eight included notes such as plastic, sour, burnt, fragrant and greasy/oil-like. The various analyses revealed that there were no sulphur- or nitrogen-containing compounds but nine contained oxygen. Most were identified by GC-MS library searching as alcohols, acids, aldehydes, ketones, and ethers. The team were prevented from reporting the individual identities of the odorous compounds by the company funding the research, which classified that information as confidential.
RAFA 2024 Highlights: Contemporary Food Contamination Analysis Using Chromatography
November 18th 2024A series of lectures focusing on emerging analytical techniques used to analyse food contamination took place on Wednesday 6 November 2024 at RAFA 2024 in Prague, Czech Republic. The session included new approaches for analysing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), polychlorinated alkanes (PCAS), Mineral Oil Hydrocarbons (MOH), and short- and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs and MCCPs).
Pharmaceutical excipients, such as polyethylene glycol-based polymers, must be tested for the presence of ethylene oxide (EtO) and 1,4-dioxane as part of a safety assessment, according to USP Chapter <228>.
