Applications of thermal desorption were originally restricted to occupational health monitoring, but have since extended to cover a much wider range. Some of the most important are mentioned below – where available, examples of early reports, and more recent citations (including those of widely used standard methods) have been given:
*Outdoor environmental monitoring
*Workplace/occupational health monitoring
*Residual volatiles emitted from products and materials
*Studies of biological systems, including plant–herbivore interactions
*Breath analysis for disease diagnosis
*Aroma profiling of food and drink
*Defence/homeland security (detection of chemical agents)