ORIGINAL PAPER
Determination of thoracic and inhalable fraction
of sulfuric acid(VI) in workplace air
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1
Centralny Instytut Ochrony Pracy – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy / Central Institute for Labour Protection –
National Research Institute, Warszawa, Poland
(Zakład Zagrożeń Chemicznych, Pyłowych i Biologicznych / Department of Chemicals, Aerosols and Biological Hazards)
2
Uniwersytet Warszawski / University of Warsaw, Warszawa, Poland
(Wydział Chemii / Faculty of Chemistry)
Corresponding author
Małgorzata Szewczyńska
Centralny Instytut Ochrony Pracy –
Państwowy Instytut Badawczy, Zakład Zagrożeń Chemicznych, Pyłowych i Biologicznych,
ul. Czerniakowska 16, 00-701 Warszawa
Med Pr Work Health Saf. 2016;67(4):509-15
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ABSTRACT
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