In this study, the emission characteristics of reduced sulfur compounds (RSC) were investigated under decaying conditions using 3 food types with strong odor properties: (1) Kimchi (KC), (2) Fresh fish (FF), and (3) Salted fish (SF). The concentrations of RSC from food decaying samples were measured 5 times during the full study period over 15 days. All the analysis of RSC were made by gas chromatography/pulsed flame photometric detector (GC/PFPD) combined with air server/thermal desorber (AS/TD). According to our analysis, CH₃SH recorded the highest mean concentration (53.8 ppb) out of all RSCs investigated concurrently. Comparison between 3 food types showed that KC had the highest odor strength in primary stage, although it showed a notable decrease through time. On the other hand, FF and SF maintained generally low RSC concentrations in the beginning stage, but they showed large increases in emission concentrations with time. Thus, the results indicate that the relative pattern of RSC emissions tends to vary greatly with food types rather than RSC type.

To analyze trace-level, reduced sulfur compounds (RSC) in ambient air, gas chromatography (GC) is used as the commonest method. The GC-based analysis is generally conducted by transferring samples via direct injection into GC or by the combined treatment of cryofocusing (CF) and thermal desorption (TD). In this study, experimental bias involved in GC analysis is examined by evaluating the calibration properties of each transfer approach. To this end, the detection properties of RSCs were evaluated with respect to the two major variables of sample concentration and sample volume. The recovery rate of TD application was also discussed based on the most recent findings in which its recovery rate is compared against the results derived by the direct injection method. The overall results suggest that the TD-based analysis of RSCs can be optimized by unifying the experimental conditions between sample and standard gases.