Air toxics or hazardous pollutants monitoring is a specialized subset of ambient air quality monitoring and requires specialized equipment and analysis techniques. US EPA has developed specific guidance and techniques to perform air toxics monitoring.  The AAQS staff is intimately familiar with this guidance and has extensive experience in the following sampling methods:

• § Tenax adsorbent sampling for VOCs – TO-1.
• § Polyurethane foam (PUF) sampling for dioxins – TO-9.
• § PUF sampling for PCBs – TO-11.
• § Evacuated canisters for VOCs – TO-14, TO-16.
• § Denuder sampling for gases and particulates – IP-9.

The AAQS staff has used these sampling methods in long-term and short-term monitoring programs for fence line sampling at hazardous waste sites, pre- and post-operational programs for resource recovery facilities and active industrial facilities.