EPA Methods m 23

Precleaning. All filters shall be cleaned before their initial use. Place a glass extraction thimble and 1 g of silica gel and a plug of glass wool into a Soxhlet apparatus, charge the apparatus with toluene, and reflux for a minimum of 3 hours. Remove the toluene and discard it, but retain the silica gel. Place no more than 50 filters in the thimble onto the silica gel bed and top with the cleaned glass wool. Charge the Soxhlet with toluene and reflux for 16 hours. After extraction, allow the Soxhlet to cool, remove the filters, and dry them under a clean nitrogen (N2 ) stream. Store the filters in a glass petri dish sealed with Teflon tape.

Filters. Glass fiber filters, without organic binder, exhibiting at least 99.95 percent efficiency (<0.05 percent penetration) on 0.3-micron dioctyl phthalate smoke particles. The filter efficiency test shall be conducted in accordance with ASTM Standard Method D 2986-71 (Reapproved 1978) (incorporated by reference - see §60.17).

Cleaning. Procedure may be carried out in a giant Soxhlet extractor. An all-glass filter thimble containing an extra-coarse frit is used for extraction of XAD-2. The frit is recessed 10-15 mm above a crenelated ring at the bottom of the thimble to facilitate drainage. The resin must be carefully retained in the extractor cup with a glass wool plug and a stainless steel ring because it floats on methylene chloride. This process involves sequential extraction in the following order.