[Determination of thoracic and inhalable fraction of sulfuric acid(VI) in workplace air]. / Oznaczanie frakcji torakalnej i wdychalnej kwasu siarkowego(VI) w powietrzu srodowiska pracy.

BACKGROUND: The article presents the results of the determination of the inhalable and thoracic fraction of sulfuric acid(VI) in 3 workplaces producing or processing this chemical. MATERIAL AND METHODS: To collect thoracic fractions of sulfuric acid(VI) Parallel Particle Impactor (PPI) was used. To isolate inhalable fraction of sulfuric acid(VI) from the air we used a sampler developed at the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), United Kingdom. Parallel Particle Impactor and IOM samplers worked with pumps at a flow of 2 l/min. For the chromatographic determination of the inhalable and thoracic fraction of sulfuric acid(VI) in workplace the ion chromatography with conductometric detection was used. RESULTS: Depending on the sampling place the concentration of thoracic fraction of sulfuric acid(VI) was: 0.0015-0.01 mg/m3 in workplace A, 0.0019-0.25 mg/m3 in workplace B, and 0.002-0.01 mg/m3 in workplace C. Of 22 tested workstations in workplace B only 7 exceeded the threshold limit value (TLV) for the concentration of thoracic fraction of sulfuric acid(VI). CONCLUSIONS: The results confirmed the utility of PPI for sampling the thoracic fraction of sulfuric acid(VI). The studies show that at 22 workstations in the establishments producing or processing sulfuric acid(VI) thoracic fraction of acid is emitted to the work environment. The collected data showed that the thoracic fraction of sulfuric acid(VI) represents on average 64% of the inhalable fraction. Med Pr 2016;67(4):509-515.

Emissions of fluorides from welding processes.

The levels of fluoride airborne particulates emitted from welding processes were investigated. They were sampled with the patented IOM Sampler, developed by J. H. Vincent and D. Mark at the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM), personal inhalable sampler for simultaneous collection of the inhalable and respirable size fractions. Ion chromatography with conductometric detection was used for quantitative analysis. The efficiency of fluoride extraction from the cellulose filter of the IOM sampler was examined using the standard sample of urban air particle matter SRM-1648a. The best results for extraction were obtained when water and the anionic surfactant N-Cetyl-N-N-N-trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) were used in an ultrasonic bath. The limits of detection and quantification for the whole procedure were 8µg/L and 24µg/L, respectively. The linear range of calibration was 0.01-10mg/L, which corresponds to 0.0001-0.1mg of fluorides per m(3) in collection of a 20L air sample. The concentration of fluorides in the respirable fraction of collected air samples was in the range of 0.20-1.82mg/m(3), while the inhalable fraction contained 0.23-1.96mg/m(3) of fluorides during an eight-hour working day in the welding room.