# Novel gas chromatography for rapid, in situ workplace hazardous VOC/VIC analysis

> **NIH ALLCDC R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2020 · $489,669

## Abstract

Workers are exposed every day to various hazardous volatile organic/inorganic compounds (VOCs/VICs)
that can affect their safety and long-term health. Gas chromatography (GC) has long been considered to be
the most promising and most commonly used method to analyze various VOCs/VICs. However, bench-top GC
instruments are bulky and are usually placed in centralized labs, and thus cannot be field-deployable.
Meanwhile, existing portable GC and micro-GC (µGC) on the market have limited peak capacity, handle only a
small, well-defined set of chemicals, and often fail when encountering complex VOCs/VICs that can be seen in
a workplace. Consequently, there is an urgent need for a device capable of rapidly and sensitively analyzing a
large number of VOCs/VICs while maintaining portability and being cost-effective. The goal of the proposed
project is to develop a low-cost high-performance portable automated µGC device based on a novel 3-
dimensional (3-D) µGC design and highly sensitive high-speed vapor sensors. It can perform rapid (<20 min),
sensitive (ppt), and in-situ analysis of hundreds of workplace VOCs/VICs for worker exposure assessment. In
the proposed project, a complete fully automated 3-D µGC device will be developed and built on a chip, which
will include pre-concentrators, thermal injector, micro-separation columns, flow controls, and vapor detectors.
Over 100 VOCs/VICs representing various workplace exposures will be used as model systems to
characterize and evaluate the performance of the device. A corresponding VOC/VIC reference library will be
created for those compounds. Finally, the device, in conjunction with the pre-built VOC/VIC library, will be used
to quantitatively analyze VOCs/VICs in an experimental workplace environment, as well as in real-world indoor
workplace and outdoor industrial or post-industrial environments. The performance will be benchmarked
against conventional industrial hygiene methods. In this 3.5-year project, we will accomplish the following five
specific aims:
Aim 1: Design, micro-fabricate, characterize, and optimize the components for 3-D µGC devices.
Aim 2: Assemble the 3-D µGC device and develop the operation/analysis algorithm.
Aim 3: Integrate an automated VIC detection module.
Aim 4: Characterize and optimize the 3-D µGC device, and create a VOC/VIC reference library.
Aim 5: Field-test the 3-D µGC device and benchmark against conventional industrial hygiene methods.
 The proposed project addresses one of the NIOSH cross-sectors - “EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT” – by
developing a new analytical device to better evaluate worker exposures to hazardous VOCs/VICs. The
intermediate outcomes will include journal articles, citations in the literature, inventions and patents, and
adoption of technologies developed in the project. The end outcomes will be a reduction in workplace
hazardous exposures and related illnesses.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9928337
- **Project number:** 5R01OH011082-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Xudong Fan
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** ALLCDC
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $489,669
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9928337

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9928337, Novel gas chromatography for rapid, in situ workplace hazardous VOC/VIC analysis (5R01OH011082-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9928337. Licensed CC0.

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