Issue 5, 2003

Evaluation of diffusive samplers and photoionisation detectors for measuring very short peak exposures in the workplace

Abstract

The extent to which very short peak widths, peak frequency, sampling time and post-sampling/pre-capping time impact upon occupational exposure measurements of toluene has been investigated using diffusive tubes. Additionally, the effect of the width of the peak on the estimation of peak maximum concentration and time-weighted average (TWA) concentration from real-time instruments (photoionisation detectors-PIDs) was also studied, and their responses modelled. No clear differences were perceived between diffusive and pumped tube results. Mean biases of −5 to +6% were recorded but no trend could be distinguished with respect to any of the variables examined; the main source of uncertainty was attributed to analytical uncertainty. The diffusive tubes can therefore be used to measure short term transient toluene concentrations (e.g. 5 s duration) over short (15 min) exposure periods. The two slower responding PIDs (t50 = 4 s) underestimated the maximum concentration of short term peaks having durations less than 10 s. The other three PIDs (t50 ≤ 2 s) only significantly underestimated the maximum concentration of short term peaks having durations of 2 s and below. Pulse duration appeared to affect the PID's estimation of peak height more than peak area (TWA concentration).

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 May 2003
Accepted
17 Jul 2003
First published
06 Aug 2003

J. Environ. Monit., 2003,5, 732-738

Evaluation of diffusive samplers and photoionisation detectors for measuring very short peak exposures in the workplace

A. T. Simpson, K. R. Hardwick, P. T. Walsh, R. C. Brown and M. A. Hemingway, J. Environ. Monit., 2003, 5, 732 DOI: 10.1039/B305618J

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