Measurements of highly volatile aromatic hydrocarbons (BTEX) with passive collectors in Dortmund
Already since 2015, the city of Dortmund has commissioned Müller-BBM GmbH to carry out corresponding immission measurements in existing residential areas in the district of Dorsfeld. The reason for these measurements were ongoing debates about potential air pollution at the former site of a coking plant.
The latest results are regularly published by the environmental department of the city of Dortmund on its own city portal. The measurements will be continued in 2017. They are carried out at three representative sites with so-called passive collectors. The handling of passive collectors is comparatively easy and cost-effective. Besides, also small-scale differences in air pollution can well be recorded. The passive collectors will, for example, be installed at street lamps or sign poles for a period of about four weeks and the collected samples will then be analysed in the laboratory. The thus obtained results usually have a high uncertainty. However, according to investigations carried out by the State Agency for Nature, Environment and Consumer Protection even the requirements of the EU concerning the data quality of continuous, stationary measurements can be observed with regard to the annual average. Yet, for this purpose a number of quality assurance measures and long-term measuring experience is required.
