Hygiene solvents

Development of extraction-free photometric procedures for the determination of traces of metals for which hygienic and environmental regulations have been established is an urgent problem. For solution of this problem we used as an organic reagent l-(2- pyridylazo)-naphtol-2 (PAN) which forms intensely coloured complex compounds with many metals and is frequently used for their extraction-photometric determination however these procedures did not find wide application in water analysis due to lack of selectivity and necessity of using organic solvents. 

This Chapter provides information on available certified reference and quahty control materials relevant for use in the measurement of airborne contaminants in occupational hygiene. The majority of measurements made in this area worldwide are solvents, dust (total, respirable), elements, oil mist, quartz, fiber identification (asbestos, man-made fibers), mists and gases. 

Solvents or their metabolites are commonly determined by GC (Tokunaga et al. 1974) or GC-MS. In spite of the high importance of exposure to solvents, and the great number of determinations performed worldwide, reference materials for solvents in serum or urine are virtually non-existent. There are a number of reference materials used in occupational hygiene, for example the ethanol in water standard from NIST (SRM 1828a) is commonly used in the clinical laboratory. 

At present, and in the immediate future, one can anticipate the continual vying of one manufacturer with another over relatively minor improvements, with possibly significant advances in instrumentation, automation, and hygiene. However, several easy-to-clean high-output presses are currently manufactured. Most Kikisui models are self-cleaning and allow for the entire turret area to be filled with solvents and cleaned by running the press. 

Farmer TH. 1996. Occupational hygiene limits for hydrocarbon solvents. Ann Occup Hyg 40(2) 237-242. 

Eehmann KB, Flury FF. 1943. Chlorinated hydrocarbons. In Lehman KB, Flury FF, eds. Toxicology and Hygiene of Industrial Solvents. Baltimore, MD Williams and Wilkins, 138-145 and 191-196. 

R. Hussey, IndHygFoundAmlncProc, 8th Ann Meeting 1943, 26-8 (The Army Industrial Hygiene Laboratory) 15) E. Rosser, K. B. Lehmann F. Flury, Toxicology Hygiene of Industrial Solvents, Williams Wilkins, Baltimore (1943) 16) A. D. Brandt, Manual of Industrial Hygiene, Saunders, Philadelphia (1943)... 

Lehmann F. Flury, "Toxicology. and Hygiene of Industrial Solvents , Williams 8c Wilkins, Baltimore, Md (1943) 6) J.F. Walker,... 

The irritancy properties of isophorone have also been observed in humans exposed occupationally to isophorone. In an industrial hygiene survey, Kominsky (1981) reported that the eye and nose irritation complained of by a screen printer could have been caused by 4-minute exposure to 25.7 ppm isophorone, which was measured in the personal breathing zone while the worker was washing a screen. Lee and Frederick (1981) found that eye, respiratory, and skin irritation were among the complaints of 27/35 workers in a printing plant where isophorone and other solvents (xylene, methylene chloride, and toluene) were used. On the day of measurement, two of the screen printers were found to be exposed to 8-hour TWA concentrations of isophorone of 0.7 and 14 ppm, but it was not clear whether these two individuals were among the workers complaining of irritation. The odor threshold for isophorone in air has been reported to be 0.2 ppm (v/v) (Amoore and Hautala 1983). 

Phase Equilibrium. An equation has been derived (14) which relates the desorption efficiency to the volume of solvent and the amount of sorbent. The equation assumes the system is in equilibrium and can be approached from either direction. That is, the same desorption efficiency should be obtained when the compound is initially in the solvent or the solid phase. This has been shown to apply to most organic compounds in the concentration range of interest in Industrial Hygiene analyses. The equations below can be used to optimize the solid/liquid ratio when developing an analytical procedure ... 

Walker et al. (1993) conducted a cohort mortality study among 7814 shoe-manufacturing workers (2529 males and 5285 females) from two plants in Ohio (United States) that have been in operation since the 1930s. The workers, men and women, were potentially exposed to solvents and solvent-based adhesives. It was thought that toluene may have been a predominant exposure, but a hygiene survey in 1977-79 showed that, in addition to toluene (10 measurements ranged from 10 ppm to 72 ppm [38-270 mg/m3]), there were also 2-butanone (methyl ethyl ketone), acetone, hexane and... 

Recently, tubes for higher temperature operation containing some common industrial solvents have been introduced. Some of these are listed in Table 4.7. These permit low concentration standards to be prepared for some industrial hygiene-type analyses. 

Cocheo, V., Boaretto, C. and Sacco, P. (1996) High uptake rate radial diffusive sampler suitable for both solvent and thermal desorption. American Industrial Hygiene Association Journal, 57, 897-904. 

Rozenbaum ND, Blekh RS, Kremneva SN, et al. 1947. [Use of chlorobenzene as a solvent from the standpoint of industrial hygiene.] Gig Sanit 12 21-24. (Russian)... 

Besides information developed in previous surveys, information about the presence and severity of hazards can be obtained from reported industrial hygiene reviews of similar facilities and from discussions with workers, medical and management personnel. Regardless of the extent of information obtained by this preliminary screening, a survey will be needed to define the relative concentration of the organic solvent vapors in the breathing zone of the worker. 

Silverman L, Reece GM, Drinker P. 1939. A new vapor pressure instrument for determining organic solvents in air. Journal of Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology 21 270-278. 

Sansone, E.B. and Y.B. Tewari. Differences in the Extent of Solvent Penetration through Natural Rubber and Nitrile Gloves from Various Manufacturers. Am. Ind. Hygiene Assoc.. 1., 41, pp. 527-528, (1980). 

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