A new purge-and-membrane mass spectrometric (PAMS-MS) instrument for analysis of volatile organic compounds in soil samples

Purge-and-membrane mass spectrometry (PAM-MS) is a combination of dynamic headspace technique and membrane extraction. A new purge-and-membrane sampler is introduced and its basic test results, such as the effects of sample pre-heating/desorption temperature, pre-heating time, moisture content in soil, methanol concentration in the samples, purge gas and soil type are briefly reported. Three different soil types were used in the method development, namely sand, peat and commercial garden soil. Some authentic soil samples were also analyzed and the results were compared to those obtained with static headspace gas chromatography. The agreement was generally good.