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Evaluation of polyurethane foam passive air sampler (PUF) as a tool for occupational PAH measurements

Strandberg, Bo LU ; Julander, Anneli ; Sjöström, Mattias ; Lewné, Marie ; Koca Akdeva, Hatice and Bigert, Carolina (2018) In Chemosphere 190. p.35-42
Abstract

Routine monitoring of workplace exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is performed mainly via active sampling. However, active samplers have several drawbacks and, in some cases, may even be unusable. Polyurethane foam (PUF) as personal passive air samplers constitute good alternatives for PAH monitoring in occupational air (8 h). However, PUFs must be further tested to reliably yield detectable levels of PAHs in short exposure times (1–3 h) and under extreme occupational conditions. Therefore, we compared the personal exposure monitoring performance of a passive PUF sampler with that of an active air sampler and determined the corresponding uptake rates (Rs). These rates were then used to estimate the occupational... (More)

Routine monitoring of workplace exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is performed mainly via active sampling. However, active samplers have several drawbacks and, in some cases, may even be unusable. Polyurethane foam (PUF) as personal passive air samplers constitute good alternatives for PAH monitoring in occupational air (8 h). However, PUFs must be further tested to reliably yield detectable levels of PAHs in short exposure times (1–3 h) and under extreme occupational conditions. Therefore, we compared the personal exposure monitoring performance of a passive PUF sampler with that of an active air sampler and determined the corresponding uptake rates (Rs). These rates were then used to estimate the occupational exposure of firefighters and police forensic specialists to 32 PAHs. The work environments studied were heavily contaminated by PAHs with (for example) benzo(a)pyrene ranging from 0.2 to 56 ng m−3, as measured via active sampling. We show that, even after short exposure times, PUF can reliably accumulate both gaseous and particle-bound PAHs. The Rs-values are almost independent of variables such as the concentration and the wind speed. Therefore, by using the Rs-values (2.0–20 m3 day−1), the air concentrations can be estimated within a factor of two for gaseous PAHs and a factor of 10 for particulate PAHs. With very short sampling times (1 h), our method can serve as a (i) simple and user-friendly semi-quantitative screening tool for estimating and tracking point sources of PAH in micro-environments and (ii) complement to the traditional active pumping methods.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Exposure, Firefighter, Occupational exposure, PAH, Passive sampler, PUF
in
Chemosphere
volume
190
pages
8 pages
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • scopus:85030329598
  • pmid:28985535
ISSN
0045-6535
DOI
10.1016/j.chemosphere.2017.09.106
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
b2504708-8c16-4cbb-b3fb-b0ae20d87460
date added to LUP
2017-10-16 08:00:25
date last changed
2024-07-08 02:55:44
@article{b2504708-8c16-4cbb-b3fb-b0ae20d87460,
  abstract     = {{<p>Routine monitoring of workplace exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is performed mainly via active sampling. However, active samplers have several drawbacks and, in some cases, may even be unusable. Polyurethane foam (PUF) as personal passive air samplers constitute good alternatives for PAH monitoring in occupational air (8 h). However, PUFs must be further tested to reliably yield detectable levels of PAHs in short exposure times (1–3 h) and under extreme occupational conditions. Therefore, we compared the personal exposure monitoring performance of a passive PUF sampler with that of an active air sampler and determined the corresponding uptake rates (Rs). These rates were then used to estimate the occupational exposure of firefighters and police forensic specialists to 32 PAHs. The work environments studied were heavily contaminated by PAHs with (for example) benzo(a)pyrene ranging from 0.2 to 56 ng m<sup>−3</sup>, as measured via active sampling. We show that, even after short exposure times, PUF can reliably accumulate both gaseous and particle-bound PAHs. The Rs-values are almost independent of variables such as the concentration and the wind speed. Therefore, by using the Rs-values (2.0–20 m<sup>3</sup> day<sup>−1</sup>), the air concentrations can be estimated within a factor of two for gaseous PAHs and a factor of 10 for particulate PAHs. With very short sampling times (1 h), our method can serve as a (i) simple and user-friendly semi-quantitative screening tool for estimating and tracking point sources of PAH in micro-environments and (ii) complement to the traditional active pumping methods.</p>}},
  author       = {{Strandberg, Bo and Julander, Anneli and Sjöström, Mattias and Lewné, Marie and Koca Akdeva, Hatice and Bigert, Carolina}},
  issn         = {{0045-6535}},
  keywords     = {{Exposure; Firefighter; Occupational exposure; PAH; Passive sampler; PUF}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  pages        = {{35--42}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Chemosphere}},
  title        = {{Evaluation of polyurethane foam passive air sampler (PUF) as a tool for occupational PAH measurements}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2017.09.106}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.chemosphere.2017.09.106}},
  volume       = {{190}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}