Background The project targets three main pollutants, Benzene, 1,3-butadiene and methylterbutylether (MTBE), which are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by gasoline engine powered vehicles. The last two are emerging pollutants to be taken into consideration by the EC. Benzene is a myelo-toxic and leukaemia-inducing compound. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organisation includes it among the Group 1 compounds, whose carcinogenic power in humans has been sufficiently proven. At a European level, the need for more environmental data has been acknowledged. On one hand, the Council Directive 96/62/EC invites Member States to evaluate preliminary air quality (art. 5) and to apply both provisional models and objective evaluation methods for air quality (art. 4, paragraph 3b). On the other hand, with the Auto-Oil Programme, the European Commission, the European Agency for the Environment and associations of automotive and oil companies intend to identify the most effective measures with the best cost-benefit ratios in order to reduce automobile traffic and industrial emissions, and thus achieve European air quality standards within the year 2010. Objectives ARTEMIDE aims to demonstrate that a high temporal resolution urban monitoring of benzene, 1,3-butadiene and methylterbutylether and other VOCs can be achieved. Data will be collected at a temporal resolution atleast equal to that allowed by the continuous automated instrumentation. This goal can be already reached by a new sequential sampler composed of 24 radiellos: one radiello at a time will be exposed for the desired duration by means of a microprocessor-driven mechanism. The project seeks to make available to public monitoring networks and research institutions a low investment and low running cost device suitable for encouraging the gathering of complete environmental data, at both spatial and temporal high resolution. In this way, the identification of pollution sources will be easier, thus enabling European law-makers to issue effective regulation aimed at reducing exposure risks for the population. Results The project has achieved satisfactory results: the sequential sampler Artemide has been designed and constructed in its final version, suitable for industrial production; the validation tests gave satisfactory results showing a good correlation with the analogous results given by fixed monitoring stations; the cost/benefit ratio is good in comparison with continuous analysers and even excellent in comparison with active sampling. However the estimation of the industrial production costs showed a higher value than was expected, so that the beneficiary intends, after the completion of the project, to improve the technology in order to reduce the final price of the device. The extent of the environmental problem (VOC pollution) is of a broad geographical nature and the results of this project are applicable to any area affected by VOC pollution. The impact of this project is moderate. It will reduce the cost of making ambient VOC measurement. Environmental policy can be improved: by frequent air monitoring campaigns in the cities already equipped with fixed stations, because the installation of many ARTEMIDE devices can improve the resolution of the survey and; by the possibility of monitoring areas which are not easily accessible. Environmental legislation can be improved by legal suggestions in using this technique. ARTEMIDE is a highly innovative monitoring device and will allow for substantial progress compared with the the present devices. The innovation consists in the simplicity of the tool both from the installation and management points of view: this rather simple method is easy to apply and therefore also useful for other contexts. Also the cost is less than it is in the conventional devices, especially in non accessible areas. The principles of radiello and use in the field Radiello is based on the principle of the diffusion of a pollutant compound in an adsorbent material. It is composed by two surfaces: one of them is “transparent” to the gaseous molecules, the other one is adsorbent. This one is made by a porous body. The gaseous molecules pass through the first surface and diffuse into the second one, where they are kept. The relation between the gaseous molecules concentration C in the atmosphere and the mass adsorbed is given by the formula: C = m/t Q Where: m = mass of the pollutant molecules adsorbed, expressed in g t = exposition duration, expressed in minutes, or hours, or days Q = sampling rate, expressed in ml/min. Q means the quantity of pollutant adsorbed into the adsorbent material in the unit of time; it is a characteristics of the adsorbent material, specific for each pollutant: the diffusion rate in the adsorbent material is different for different pollutants. If Q is known, in order to determine the environmental concentration C, it is sufficient to measure:  the mass m kept by the adsorbent  the exposition time t. This is the way Radiello is used in the field. Q is determined for each adsorbent material and for each pollutant compound with laboratory experiments: in a controlled atmosphere chamber a known pollutant concentration C is introduced; a Radiello is exposed in this controlled atmosphere for a time t; both t and the mass m are measured after exposition; the adsorbed mass m is measured and the above formula gives Q. To validate the field Radiello results, an Artemide device is installed near a fixed air-monitoring station. Radiello measures the mean concentration in the exposition time. A comparison is done between the mean concentration measured by Radiello and the analogous value measured by the fixed station for the same pollutant. This project has been selected as one of the 24 "Best" LIFE Environment projects in 2004-2005