This summer, the team journeyed deep into the Amazon to test
a VOC sampling prototype developed by Daniel Wang S.B. ’17 for his senior design thesis.
Airplanes can cover large distances but can't fly low enough to collect
VOC samples, which reach heights of about a kilometer or less above the canopy.
Not exact matches
The graph below shows how the
VOC profile changed between the control
sample and the Steam Infusion
samples:
«We believe this was possible because we used GC × GC - TOFMS to analyze our decomposition odor
samples; previous studies using more simple chromatography techniques did not identify as many — or any —
VOCs.»
They took
samples from the toe, ball and heel of the socks and from under the arm of the t - shirts to analyze the
VOCs that were causing the smells.
They tested
samples for
VOCs after washing while they were still wet, and after drying.
The specialized instruments onboard the aircraft
sampled the plume for aerosol particle size distribution and composition as well as concentrations of pollutant gases such as sulfur dioxide, nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and volatile organic compounds (
VOCs).
After analyzing biomarkers in the breath
samples of 60 patients, the scientists found a link between bacterial pneumonia and the presence of certain volatile organic compounds (
VOCs) produced by a pathogen called A. baumannii.