Identification of Priority Air Pollutants in Confined Spaces

Author(s):  
OL Markova ◽  
EV Zaritskaya ◽  
MN Kir’yanova ◽  
EV Ivanova

Introduction: Owing to the rapid development of digital technologies, most people nowadays are working indoors while using no machinery or equipment and being unexposed to volatile industrial chemicals. Yet, people staying inside for too long often complain of poor indoor air quality and microclimate. Our objective was to study air pollutants in a simulation experiment with continuous human occupancy inside unventilated confined spaces. Materials and methods: Up-to-date sensitive analytical techniques, such as photoionization, laser nephelometry, gas-phase chemiluminescence, spectrophotometry, high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLCDAD) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), were used to determine indoor air pollutants. Results: We compared changes in airborne concentrations of nitrogen oxides, prop-2-enenitrile, acetaldehyde, benzene, but-2-enal, airborne particulate matter (PM2,5 and PM10), methylbenzene, 2-methylbuta-1,3-diene, formaldehyde, prop-2-en-1-al, carbon oxide and dioxide following 1.5, 3.0, and 4.5 hours of stay of volunteers in a 15.9 m2 room (4.0 m2 per person; a 2.55 m ceiling height) against background levels. The established human occupancy-related priority pollutants included acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, prop-2-en-1-al, and carbon dioxide. Laboratory testing showed the presence of 83 volatile and semivolatile organic chemicals in the unventilated room, among which aromatic hydrocarbons, esters and aldehydes prevailed. Conclusion: Our findings could be useful for designing ventilation systems in confined spaces and optimizing the workbreak schedule during the working hours.

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (S2) ◽  
pp. 914-915
Author(s):  
K. BéruBé ◽  
T. Jones ◽  
R. Richards

People spend the majority of their time indoors, mostly in the domestic environment, where there may be significant air pollution sources. Indoor air pollutants can be derived from the ingress of contaminated air from outdoors (e.g., heavily trafficked roads, presence of industry, allergens) and from specific indoor sources such as combustion appliances, building materials, and consumer products. The activities and behaviour of individuals, for example, cooking, heating, cleaning, smoking, pets, can also influence the production and levels of indoor air pollutants. There is a body of literature concerning indoor concentrations of pollutants such as CO, NO2, formaldehyde, volatile organic compounds, house dust mites, fungi, bacteria and their health effects. However, there have been few, if any studies, conducted in the UK to date to compare and contrast indoor and outdoor particulate matter (PM). Epidemiological studies consistently suggest that increases in outdoor PMIO (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than l0μm) concentrations are linked to health effects (morbidity and mortality in persons with cardiopulmonary diseases).


2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (8) ◽  
pp. 1708-1710 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raluca Diodiu ◽  
Toma Galaon

The concentrations of 17 carbonyl compounds were investigated in indoor air of two offices - one located in a green building and the other in an old building, both from Bucharest. Indoor air samples were collected during normal activities of the working staff on passive samplers. Two analytical techniques were used: Ion Chromatography for carboxylic acids and High Performance Liquid Chromatography for aldehydes and ketones. A questionnaire was administrated in order to collect information about buildings characteristics, indoor furniture, decorating materials and electronical devices used during the sampling. Formaldehyde, acroleine+acetone, acetaldehyde, hexaldehyde and carboxylic acids were the most abundant compounds that accounted for more than 50% of the total carbonyls. The majority of the aldehydes showed higher concentrations in the old building office compared to the concentrations found in the green building office. Regarding the carboxylic acids: the concentration of formic acid was slightly higher in the old building office versus the green building office; in the case of acetic acid, the concentration found in the old building office was around two times higher comparing to the green building office.


2005 ◽  
Vol 361 (1465) ◽  
pp. 147-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian L Griffin

To date most global approaches to functional genomics have centred on genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics. However, since a number of high-profile publications, interest in metabolomics, the global profiling of metabolites in a cell, tissue or organism, has been rapidly increasing. A range of analytical techniques, including 1 H NMR spectroscopy, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS), Fourier Transform mass spectrometry (FT–MS), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and electrochemical array (EC-array), are required in order to maximize the number of metabolites that can be identified in a matrix. Applications have included phenotyping of yeast, mice and plants, understanding drug toxicity in pharmaceutical drug safety assessment, monitoring tumour treatment regimes and disease diagnosis in human populations. These successes are likely to be built on as other analytical and bioinformatic approaches are developed to fully exploit the information obtained in metabolic profiles. To assist in this process, databases of metabolomic data will be necessary to allow the passage of information between laboratories. In this prospective review, the capabilities of metabolomics in the field of medicine will be assessed in an attempt to predict the impact this ‘Cinderella approach’ will have at the ‘functional genomic ball’.


2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-388
Author(s):  
Johan Rydberg ◽  
Colin A. Cooke ◽  
Julie Tolu ◽  
Alexander P. Wolfe ◽  
Rolf D. Vinebrooke

Abstract Chlorophyll is frequently used as a proxy for autochthonous production in lakes. This use of chlorophyll concentrations in sediments to infer historical changes in lake primary production relies heavily on the assumption that preservation is sufficient to reflect the productivity in a meaningful way. In this study, we use a series of freeze cores from a lake with annually laminated sediments to assess how reliable down-core trends in chlorophyll are, and to what extent chlorophyll is degraded in the sediment. A striking consistency in the down-core chlorophyll trends in four sediment cores collected in different years (1983, 1992, 2002 and 2010) shows that the sediment preserves a consistent chlorophyll signal over longer timescales. However, there are also clear signs that diagenetic processes within the sediment affect the chlorophyll concentration in sediment layers younger than 10–15 years. This implies that care is needed when interpreting chlorophyll trends in recent sediments. Further, our data show that high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and visible reflectance spectroscopy (VRS) detect similar chlorophyll concentrations for recently dried samples. A third analytical technique, pyrolysis–gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, which provides semi-quantitative values for chlorophyll, also produce a temporal trend that is highly correlated with data from the two quantitative techniques. For samples that have been stored dried at room temperature for several years there is, however, a large discrepancy between the two quantitative techniques. The VRS method is more robust with regards to degradation during storage, while HPLC results demonstrate clear storage effects.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1132-1153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianpei Zhou ◽  
Nan Zhang ◽  
Changzheng Wu ◽  
Yi Xie

Surface/interface nanoengineering of electrocatalysts and air electrodes will promote the rapid development of high-performance rechargeable Zn–air batteries.


2002 ◽  
Vol 2 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 427-433 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. van Leeuwen ◽  
C. Chow ◽  
R. Fabris ◽  
N. Withers ◽  
D. Page ◽  
...  

To gain an improved understanding of the types of organic compounds that are recalcitrant to water treatment, natural organic matter (NOM) isolates from two drinking water sources (Mt. Zero and Moorabool reservoirs, Victoria, Australia) were separated into fractions of distinct chemical behaviour using resins. Four fractions were obtained from each water source and were organics absorbed to: (1) XAD-8 (very hydrophobic acids, VHA); (2) DAX-4 (slightly hydrophobic acids, SHA); (3) bound to an anion exchange resin (charged organics, CHAR); and (4) not absorbed or bound to resins (neutrals, NEUT). These fractions were then tested to determine the capacity of alum to remove them from water and to correlate this with the character of each isolate. The fractions were characterised by the application of high performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC), bacterial regrowth potential (BRP), trihalomethane formation potential (THMFP), pyrolysis gas-chromatography mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) and thermochemolysis. The highest removals of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) by alum treatment were in waters spiked with the CHAR fractions while the NEUT fractions were the most recalcitrant. The number average molecular weights (Mn) of DOC of the CHAR fractions before treatment were the highest, whilst those of the NEUT fractions were the lowest. After alum treatment, the Mn of the NEUT fractions were only slightly reduced. Results from Py-GC-MS and thermochemolysis indicate that the NEUT fractions had the highest relative proportion of saccharide derived organic material. Nonetheless, the BRP of waters spiked with the NEUT fractions differed markedly, indicating that organics recalcitrant to alum treatment can vary substantially in their chemical composition and capacity to support microbial growth.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alper Gökbulut

Background: Chromatographic techniques such as TLC basically and, HPLC, GC, HPTLC equipped with various detectors are most frequently used for the qualitative and quantitative examination of herbals. Method: An overview of the recent literature concerning the usage of HPTLC for the analysis of medicinal plants has been reviewed. Results: During the last decade/s, HPTLC, a modern, sophisticated and automatized TLC technique with better and advanced separation efficiency, detection limit, data acquisition and processing, has been used for the analysis of herbal materials and preparations since the rapid development of technology in chromatography world. HPTLC with various detectors is a powerful analytical tool especially for the phytochemical applications such as herbal drug quantification and fingerprint analysis. Conclusion: In this review, a latest perspective has been established and some of the previous studies were summarized for the usage of HPTLC in the analysis of herbal remedies, dietary supplements and nutraceuticals.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (01) ◽  
pp. 4701
Author(s):  
Shobha R. I. ◽  
Andallu B.

Nature has provided mankind with a broad and structurally diverse array of pharmacologically active chemical compounds, phytoceuticals, which have proved to be indispensable for the cure of chronic diseases or as lead structures for novel therapeutic agents. Almost, 70% of modern medicines in India have been developed from plants used in the traditional system of medicine. With the technological advances and the development of more sophisticated isolation and analytical techniques, there is great scope for further systematic research to screen and isolate many more phytoceuticals which might be more effective/as effective as synthetic drugs and thereby assess their potential in protecting against chronic diseases. The present investigation is aimed at isolation and identification of phytoceuticals in a spice, aniseed (Pimpinella anisum L), therapeutically less-exploited and widely used only for culinary purpose, using analytical techniques viz. column chromatography, high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC.) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry. Among all the solvent fractions of methanolic extract tested, methanolic extract and ethyl acetate fraction possessed highest amounts of bioactive compounds viz. phenolics, flavonoids, flavonols which was confirmed by qualitative, quantitative and HPTLC. analyses. Spectral analysis using NMR. of one of the sub-fractions of aniseeds obtained by column chromatography, revealed the presence of a glycosylated flavone, luteolin-6C-glucoside in aniseeds.  The present study revealed aniseeds to be a great source of bioactive phytoceuticals which can be novel candidates for development of new therapeutic agents.


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