A preliminary study of a novel mass spectrometry based system for monitoring gases and VOCs evolved during composting of green kitchen waste

Abstract

A combined system that consists of a pulsed sampling system, a capillary column as a transfer line and a mass spectrometer is used for online monitoring of complicated mixtures of gases and VOCs produced in a bioreactor. The combined system had long term stability and robust operation together with significant separation capability when the transfer line was a coated capillary column. It appeared that the optimum separation was achieved at temperatures as low as 50 °C. The system was capable of detecting reactor events and system malfunctions and of providing analytical information regarding evolved gases and VOCs. Contour plots were used for summarizing voluminous data originating from continuous (24 × 7) online monitoring of the bioreactor.