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Industrial Hygiene Applications of Portable GC-MS. Phil Smith, CDR, MSC, USN PhD, CIH. Objective.
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Industrial Hygiene Applications of Portable GC-MS Phil Smith, CDR, MSC, USN PhD, CIH
Objective Provide examples where field-portable GC-MS has been used for qualitative screening that improved exposure assessment outcome and how this tool will and how this will affect the practice of prevention
Exposure Assessment Exposure assessment is an important part of research and prevention (1) Researchers need to link exposures to outcomes (2) Practitioners need to understand exposures to verify if they are acceptable In both cases, unknown and unexpected exposures are undesirable
Industrial Hygiene Applications of Solid Phase Microextraction • Screening unknown materials by SPME with GC-MS analysis • Screening unknown exposures by SPME with GC-MS analysis • Quantitative Exposure Sampling
2 of 3 fibers are extended for sampling; Circled area contains sorbent coating of 1 fiber
Real-Time ID of CWA Analytes 1 Minute Sample Time, Passive SPME
Sulfur Mustard (HD) 1 Minute SPME Sample Time
Using Improved Instrumentation/Methods to Solve Exposure Problems CS Riot Control Agent, Thermal Dispersion
What are we Currently Missing in Exposure Assessments? p-dichlorobenzene
Hazard Recognition –screening unknown materials by SPME with GC/MS analysis Formula 150 paint –incomplete MSDS information
GC-MS Field Sampling for Shipboard Paint Analytes SPME Fiber
Screening by Headspace SPME for Identification of Solvents in Paint SPME Sampling Headspace above paint sample GC/MS analysis, DB-1 column 35 °C to 150 °C, 3 °C/min n-butanol
IAQ Sample, 16 September 2001 n-C15 Coelutes with n-C14 n-C16
Crash Site SPME Air Sampling With On-Site GC/MS Analysis 30 min sample, fuel from aircraft 1:320 dilution (MeCl2 diluent) 30 min crash site sample
5 min passive SPME Sample shown here, field GC/MS analysis HCN (CS) Hapsite Analytes
Exposure to Volatile Analytes from Handling Irradiated Mail Field identification was required at the point of contaminant generation to quickly answer fundamental exposure assessment questions ; numerous volatile, irritating chemicals were shown to be produced by the irradiation process
Problem: Initially unknown exposures to volatile organic chemicals among legislative workers handling mail irradiated as a protection against anthrax Why use GC/MS for this problem? (1) Complex mixture with many trace components (2) Initially, composition completely unknown
Initial GC-MS Instrumentation Used Typical GC air bath oven
Initial screening samples showed rich mix of volatile organic compounds; switched to different column and confirmed results in the laboratory… GC-MS with Mobile Laboratory
10 s SPME Sample, GC-MS Analysis Undisclosed Hazrdous Ingredients
Conclusions (Continued) Transportable (lab) Man-portable (Derived from Level 4) One of the most powerful quality improvements possible has repeatedly been shown to be: “understand qualitative situation first using Level-3 gear… THEN quantify” Our profession must drive (or at least participate in) development of better systems in levels 1-3