Annals of Occupational Hygiene Advance Access originally published online on October 27, 2004
Annals of Occupational Hygiene 2004 48(8):715-721; doi:10.1093/annhyg/meh067
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© British Occupational Hygiene Society Published by Oxford University Press;
Simultaneous Sampling of Peroxyacetic Acid and Hydrogen Peroxide in Workplace Atmospheres
INRS, BP 27, 54501 Vandoeuvre Les Nancy Cedex, France
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: +33 3 83 50 20 00; Fax: + 33 3 83 50 87 87.E-mail: gerard.hecht{at}inrs.fr
Received 26 January 2004; in final form 7 June 2004
The use of peroxyacetic acid (PAA) in the disinfection processes in the food industry or for medical purposes is increasing. As it is the product of the reaction of acetic acid (AA) and hydrogen peroxide (HP) and coexists with them, and given the fact that the chemical properties of these two substances are not very different from PAA, the sampling and analysis of this substance in working atmospheres is difficult. A specific sampling device was developed. It is composed of: (i) a cassette with quartz fibre filters impregnated with titanium oxysulfate hydrate for the sampling of HP followed by; (ii) a tube filled with silica gel soaked with methyl p-tolylsulfoxide for the sampling of PAA.
The analysis of this silica gel was performed by liquid chromatography with UV detection of the methyl p-sulfone generated by the sampling of PAA. The conservation of the sampling media (before and after sampling) and its efficiency were also checked. From the results of sampling campaigns performed in various workplaces, the relative contributions of PAA, AA and HP to an exposure index, taking into account the atmospheric concentrations and the threshold limit values, were established. This calculation shows that the simultaneous determination of PAA and HP, which the method presented in this paper allows, provides a fairly good estimation of the exposure.
Keywords: peracetic acid hydrogen peroxide simultaneous sampling