In our modern world a large number of man-made chemicals are being used.As a consequence their widespread presence in the environment is becoming increasingly well documented (Vethaak et al, 2002;Peters et al., 2008).They are found in a vast range of consumer products and include plasticizers, emulsifiers, flame retardants, perfluorinated compounds, artificial musks and organotin compounds.While they have undoubtedly improved the quality of our lives, a consequence of their intensive use is a widespread presence in the environment.Human exposure to these compounds may be through contact with consumer products containing such chemicals as additives, but also through food products.Since many of these compounds have a lipophilic nature there is a potential for bio-accumulation through the food chain especially in products with a high fat content.This is reflected in the presence of persistent organic compounds such as organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls that can be found in food products although there use has been seized many years ago.Many of these compounds have also been found in human blood indicating that humans are exposed to these chemicals (CDC, 2001(CDC, , 2003;;Guenther et al., 2002).This exposure may be through different routes.One is the use of these chemicals as additives in consumer products such as carpets, curtains, toys and electronic equipment.The exposure of these chemicals in house dust indicates the potential for human exposure.Another route for human exposure is, of course, through food products.Since many of these compounds have a lipophilic nature, they can be bio-accumulated through the food chain especially in products with a high fat content.This study focused on the presence and concentrations of a number of typical man-made chemicals in food products that many of use daily.The chemicals considered in this study are: brominated flame retardants (BFR's), phthalates, artificial musks, alkylphenols (AP's), organochlorine pesticides (OCP's), polychlorobiphenyls (PCB's), organotin compounds (OT's) and perfluorinated compounds (PFC's). Methods and materials Sampling and sample pre-treatmentAll samples, mostly fresh food products were purchased in regular shops in nine European countries including the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland, Sweden, www.intechopen.comPesticides in the Modern World -Risks and Benefits 70 Spain, Poland, Italy, Estonia and Greece.Samples were sent to the laboratory where laboratory samples were prepared and stored at -18°C until analysis.In general, solid food samples were cut into small pieces and homogenised with a blender.If not the entire sample was used or homogenised, proportional sub-sampling was applied and the collected subsamples were homogenised.Milk was acidified with formic acid and the solid part containing the proteins and fat was separated from the liquid phase.Both parts were stored for analysis.Orange juice was centrifuged and vacuum filtrated and the solid and liquid parts were stored for analysis.A selected number of chemical parameters were determined in each sample, based on expectations and reports in the literature. Chemical parametersThe chemical parameters determined in this study are listed in table 1, including the abbreviations that are used throughout the text and in the result tables.Note that not all parameters are determined in all samples. Analytical proceduresFor the determination of the OCP's, PCB's, BFR's, phthalates and artificial musks, a weight sub-sample of the homogenised laboratory sample was mixed with anhydrous sodium sulphate in a mortar and spiked with internal standards.The internal standards used were 13 C-labelled standards for PCB's and BFR's, 2 D-labelled standards for OCP's and phthalates, and a surrogate standard for the artificial musks.The samples were Soxhlet extracted for 16 hours using a mixture of 10% diethyl ether in hexane.For milk and orange juice a proportional amount of the liquid phase was pre-extracted with hexane and this hexane extract was used in the Soxhlet extraction of the solid part of these samples.Olive oil was directly diluted in hexane.One procedural blank, consisting of 40 g anhydrous sodium sulphate, was included in every batch of 10 samples.All extracts were concentrated to a volume of 50 ml and split into two equal parts of 25 ml.For the determination of the OCP's, PCB's and BFR's, one part of the extract was washed several times with sulphuric acid of increasing concentration to remove the major part of the lipids.The remaining extract was concentrated and purified over a glass chromatographic column packed with florisil and capped with anhydrous sodium sulphate to isolate the fraction containing the OCP's, PCB's, PBDE's and HBCD.The eluent was concentrated to a small volume and a syringe standard (1,2,3,4-tetrachloronaphthalene) was added.This final extract was analysed on an Agilent 6890 series gas chromatograph coupled to an Agilent 5973 mass spectrometer (GC/MS) and equipped with a HP-5-MS, 30 m × 0.25 mm (i.d.), film thickness 0.25 µm, fused silica capillary column.The mass spectrometer was operated in the selected ion monitoring mode and typically two or three characteristic ion masses were monitored for each analyte.The samples were analyzed for the following OCP's; -, -and -hexachlorohexane (HCH), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), -and -chlordane, o,p'-, p,p'-DDE, o,p'-, p,p'-DDD and o,p'-, p,p'-DDT: The following PCB congeners: 18, 28/31, 22, 41/64, 44, 49, 52, 54, 56/60, 70, 74, 87
This work was undertaken within the framework of Lloyd's Register's Marine Exhaust Emissions Research Programme. Phase II of this research programme [] evaluated exhaust emissions from ships in service under steady state and transient modes of operation and incorporated measurements of CO, CO2, 02, SO2, NOa and hydrocarbons on board eight ships. Additional measurements of heavy metal and organic micropollutant emissions were undertaken on three of these vessels. The organic micropollutant measurement exercise is reported herein. The purpose of the investigations reported here is to get a first impression of the emissions of organic microcontaminants from ship engines under real world conditions, at sea as well as on inland waterways. The work was also meant to find out whether more elaborate investigations Iire needed or should not have priority. We will describe here in short the reasons for the investigation and for the choice of the substances measured. For each topic only one reference will be given, selected from the voluminous scientific literature.
In our simulation experiments, using e.g., a dedicated emission chamber, the emission of organophosphates as tricresyl phosphate (TCP) was studied using turbine oil. Experiments were carried out at 250°C and 370°C. Subsequently field studies were carried out to detect the presence of TCPs in the cockpit during normal operating conditions of Boeing 737 aircrafts. In both studies four TCP isomers were identified: T(m,m,m)CP, T(m,m,p)CP, T(m,p,p)CP and T(p,p,p)CP . No T(o,o,o)CP or other ortho isomers were found
European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) Technical Committee 264 'Air Quality' has recently produced a standard method for the measurements of anions and cations in PM2.5 within its Working Group 34 in response to the requirements of European Directive 2008/50/EC. It is expected that this method will be used in future by all Member States making measurements of the ionic content of PM2.5. This paper details the results of a field measurement campaign and the statistical analysis performed to validate this method, assess its uncertainty and define its working range to provide clarity and confidence in the underpinning science for future users of the method. The statistical analysis showed that, except for the lowest range of concentrations, the expanded combined uncertainty is expected to be below 30% at the 95% confidence interval for all ions except Cl-. However, if the analysis is carried out on the lower concentrations found at rural sites the uncertainty can be in excess of 50% for Cl-, Na+, K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+. An estimation of the detection limit for all ions was also calculated and found to be 0.03 μg m-3 or below.
Different collector types, sample workup procedures and analysis methods to measure the deposition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were tested and compared. Whilst sample workup and analysis methods did not influence the results of PAH deposition measurements, using different collector types changed the measured deposition rates of PAH significantly. The results obtained with a funnel–bottle collector showed the highest deposition rates and a low measurement uncertainty. The deposition rates obtained with the wet-only collectors were the lowest at industrial sites and under dry weather conditions. For the open-jar collectors the measurement uncertainty was high. Only at an industrial site with extremely high PAH deposition rates the results of open-jar collectors were comparable to those obtained with funnel–bottle collectors. Thus, if bulk deposition of PAH has to be measured, funnel–bottle combinations are proved to be the collectors of choice. These collectors were the only ones always fulfilling the requirements of European legislation.
The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) was granted by ASHRAE (1306-RP) to conduct scientfic review and feasibility analysis of technologies and methods for measuring aircraft power system contaminants in the cabin air during unanticipated adverse incidents. In particular, the following specific objectives were addressed: technology review to identify novel candidate technologies or methods for identifying and quantfying aircraft power system contaminants in the cabin air during unanticipated adverse incidents; a ranking of available methodologies for suitability of use along with supporting rationale; performance testing to evaluate sensitivity and accuracy under laboratoy conditions for the two highest ranked methods.
Contamination of aircraft cabin air can result from leakage of engine oils and hydraulic fluids into bleed air. This may cause adverse health effects in cabin crews and passengers. To realistically mimic inhalation exposure to aircraft cabin bleed-air contaminants, a mini bleed-air contaminants simulator (Mini-BACS) was constructed and connected to an air-liquid interface (ALI) aerosol exposure system (AES). This unique "Mini-BACS + AES" setup provides steady conditions to perform ALI exposure of the mono- and co-culture lung models to fumes from pyrolysis of aircraft engine oils and hydraulic fluids at respectively 200 °C and 350 °C. Meanwhile, physicochemical characteristics of test atmospheres were continuously monitored during the entire ALI exposure, including chemical composition, particle number concentration (PNC) and particles size distribution (PSD). Additional off-line chemical characterization was also performed for the generated fume. We started with submerged exposure to fumes generated from 4 types of engine oil (Fume A, B, C, and D) and 2 types of hydraulic fluid (Fume E and F). Following submerged exposures, Fume E and F as well as Fume A and B exerted the highest toxicity, which were therefore further tested under ALI exposure conditions. ALI exposures reveal that these selected engine oil (0-100 mg/m
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