A method to empirically determine the gaseous emissions produced from a pyrotechnic flare composition through the combination of gas chromatography and mass spectrometry is described. In this approach, milligram quantities of a model yellow signal flare composition and its individual polymeric constituents were subjected to pyrolysis at conditions that were guided via thermal analysis. Many volatile organic compounds and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were identified as emission products even though thermochemical calculations fail to anticipate such products. Thus, these data may complement characterization of emission products predicted in silico. Pyrolysis of this pyrotechnic composition also demonstrated unique products formed via donation of nitrogen to aromatic fragments originating from resinous portions of the formulation. These products included EPA priority pollutants that were not formed by decomposition from staple ingredients. This work demonstrates that a variety of EPA priority pollutants were formed during the simulated combustion of what would otherwise be considered an environmentally friendly pyrotechnic. These pollutants originated from commonly used polymeric ingredients indicating the true environmental impact of many polymer-based energetics may need to be revisited.

中文翻译：

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热解/ GC / MS作为快速分析烟气中有害气体排放配方的方法

描述了一种通过气相色谱法和质谱法结合经验确定烟火火炬组合物产生的气体排放的方法。在这种方法中，在通过热分析指导的条件下，将毫克量的模型黄色信号耀斑组合物及其各个聚合物成分进行热解。尽管热化学计算未能预测到这些挥发性有机化合物和多环芳烃，但许多挥发性有机化合物和多环芳烃仍被确定为排放产物。因此，这些数据可以补充计算机预测的排放产物的特征。该烟火组合物的热解还显示出独特的产物，该产物是通过将氮给予源自该制剂的树脂部分的芳族片段而形成的。这些产品包括不是由主要成分分解而形成的EPA优先污染物。这项工作表明，在模拟燃烧过程中会形成多种EPA优先污染物，否则这些污染物将被视为对环境友好的烟火技术。这些污染物源自常用的聚合物成分，这表明可能需要重新研究许多基于聚合物的高能材料对环境的真正影响。