Title

Analysis and Detection of HFO-1234ze

Author Info

Alberni V. Ruiz, California State University, San MarcosFollow
Ben R. Miller, NOAAFollow

Recommended Citation

August 1, 2016.

Abstract

Alberni Ruiz

Abstract

Refrigerants have been one of the causes of ozone depletion and the buildup of greenhouse gases in past decades. When the international agreements the Montreal Protocol, which has the goal of eliminating ozone depleting compounds, and the Kyoto protocol which has the goal of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions, where implemented they paved the way to replace past and current refrigerants with alternate compounds that are less detrimental to the atmosphere. New compounds that where green-lit by the EPA for use as refrigerants in 2011 where HFO-1234ze and HFO-1234yf, both of these compounds have a very low Global warming potential (GWP) and due to lack of chlorine molecule do not aid in the depletion of ozone. The HFOs will be introduced into air conditioning units which are currently using HFCs, which are known greenhouse gas compounds. Currently there is no experimental analysis for the detection of HFO-1234ze and HFO-1234yf within the Global Monitoring division (GMD) of NOAA. Testing for these specific compounds in the atmosphere is important because it will allow us to quantify the concentration of these compounds and detect where the major concentrations of emissions stem from, as well as verify the effectiveness of both the Montreal and Kyoto protocols. The objective of this experiment is to identify HFO-1234ze and HFO-1234yf using the gas chromatography/ mass spectrometer (GS/MS) Perseus, thus allowing for calibration of this instrument so GMD can test for these HFOs in future air samples that are gathered from around the world. We will create an air like simple mixture dilution that will be in parts per trillion (ppt) and introduce this dilution into Perseus. After identifying (ID) the compounds in the simple mixture, GMD will attempt to ID the compounds in real air samples. (The results will be discussed in the poster.)

Disciplines

Environmental Education | Environmental Health and Protection | Other Earth Sciences | Other Environmental Sciences | Sustainability

Mentor

Dr. Ben R. Miller

Lab site

National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Earth Systems Research Laboratory (NOAA ESRL)

Funding Acknowledgement

*This project has been made possible with support from Chevron (www.chevron.com) and the California State University STEM Teacher Researcher Program.