RAPID DETERMINATION OF INDOOR AIR CONTAMINANTS IN SHOE SHOPS USING PHOTOIONIZATION DETECTORS

Authors

  • Victor BOCOȘ-BINȚINȚAN Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: victor.bocos@ubbcluj.ro. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0836-1049
  • Alina SMOLENSCHI Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Corresponding author: victor.bocos@ubbcluj.ro.
  • Ileana-Andreea RAŢIU Department of Environmental Chemistry and Bioanalytics, Faculty of Chemistry, Interdisciplinary Centre of Modern Technologies, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland; Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Email: andreea_ratiu84@yahoo.com. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2615-684X

Keywords:

photoionization detection PID, indoor air quality IAQ, volatile organic compounds VOCs, toluene

Abstract

Recently, indoor air quality (IAQ) has become a serious concern. More and more people are facing health problems due to the poor air quality at the workplace; most of them are exposed to pollutants without even realizing it. Therefore, it is important to monitor the indoor air quality to prevent an unsafe environment. In the shoe making process, various volatile compounds – like toluene, found especially in adhesives – are used. These chemicals tend to slowly desorb from the final products and to accumulate ultimately inside the shoe shops. We report here the total volatile organic compounds (tVOCs) that are prone to be ionized by the UV radiation; measurements were performed over eight weeks inside six shoe shops located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, with a ppbRAE Plus instrument manufactured by RAE Systems Inc. USA. We found with this ultra-sensitive photoionization detector (PID) maximum concentrations up to 7 ppmv of tVOCs (isobutene units) in air for each shoe shop investigated. The obtained results demonstrate that people working in the selected shoe stores may be exposed to significant tVOCs concentrations during a working day. Thus, PID devices are useful tools for quickly surveying the indoor air quality.

References

Care For Your Life: A guide to Indoor Air Quality, 2008, available on-line at http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/careforyourair.html, accessed in 10.05.2016.

I. Haiduc, L.D. Boboş, A. Oltean, Environment & Progress, 2004, 2, 153.

S.K. Kang, M.Y. Lee, T.K. Kim, J.O. Lee, Y.S. Ahn, Chemico-Biological Interactions, 2005, 153-154, 65.

C. Klaassen, Cassarett & Doull's Toxicology - The Basic Science of Poisons (6nd ed.), McGraw-Hill Publishers, 2001, chapter 24.

I.A. Raţiu, V. Bocoş-Binţinţan, M. Turner, V.H. Moll, C.L.P. Thomas, Current Analytical Chemistry, 2014, 4, 488.

L. Wilkins, Teratology, 1997, 55, 145.

Cantox Environmental, Assessment report on toluene for developing ambient air quality objectives, RWDI West Inc., Alberta Environment, 2004, 12-35.

U.S. Department of Labor - Occupational Safety and Health Administration, https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/toluene/exposure_limits.html [accessed in October 2016].

C. Chen, F. Tsow, K. Driggs Campbell, R. Iglesias, E. Forzani, N.J. Tao, IEEE Sensors Journal, 2013, 13, 1748.

A. Mizukoshi, K. Kumagai, N. Yamamoto, M. Noguchi, K. Yoshiuchi, H. Kumano, Y. Yanagisawa, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2010, 7, 4127.

Y.C. Shih, A.S. Yang, C.W. Lu, Building and Environment, 2011, 46, 1104.

M. Jia, J. Koziel, J. Pawliszyn, Field Analytical Chemistry and Technology, 2000, 4, 73-84.

J. Koziel, M.Y. Jia, A. Khaled, J. Noah, J. Pawliszyn, Analytica Chimica Acta, 1999, 400, 153.

A. Robbat, Jr., T. Considine, P. M. Antle, Chemosphere, 2010, 80, 1370.

G.B. Ghira, I.A. Raţiu, V. Bocoş-Binţinţan, Environmental Engineering & Management Journal, 2012, 12, 251.

E. Ingre-Khans, C. Rudén, M. Breitholtz, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 2010, 1633.

H. Bae, W. Yang, M. Chung, Science of the Total Environment, 2004, 323, 99.

P. Grasso, M. Sharratt, D.M. Davies, D. Irvine, Food and Chemical Toxicology, 1984, 22, 819.

J. Tang, C.Y. Chan, X. Wang, L.Y. Chan, G. Sheng, J. Fu, Atmospheric Environment, 2005, 39, 7374.

RAE Systems Inc., 2002, Using PIDs for indoor air quality surveys (Application Note-AP 212).

RAE Systems Inc., 2003, Operation and Maintenance Manual, Parts per Billion VOC monitor PMG-7240, pp. 8-20.

Downloads

Published

2016-12-30

How to Cite

BOCOȘ-BINȚINȚAN, V. ., SMOLENSCHI, A. ., & RAŢIU, I.-A. . (2016). RAPID DETERMINATION OF INDOOR AIR CONTAMINANTS IN SHOE SHOPS USING PHOTOIONIZATION DETECTORS. Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Chemia, 61(4), 203–212. Retrieved from https://studia.reviste.ubbcluj.ro/index.php/chemia/article/view/8390

Issue

Section

Articles

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 > >> 

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.