Analysis of Solvent Vapors in Breath and Ambient Air with a Surface Acoustic Wave Sensor Array

Details

• Personal Author:
  Groves WA ; Zellers ET
• Description:
  This article describes the development and evaluation of a small prototype instrument employing an array of four polymer-coated surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors for rapid analysis of organic solvent vapors in exhaled breath and ambient air. A thermally desorbed adsorbent preconcentrator within the instrument is used to increase sensitivity and compensate for background water vapor. Calibrations were performed for breath and dry nitrogen samples in Tedlar bags spiked with 16 individual solvents and selected binary mixtures. Responses were linear over the 50- to 400-fold concentration ranges examined and mixture responses were additive. The resulting library of vapor calibration response patterns was used with extended disjoint principal components regression and a probabilistic artificial neural network to develop vapor-recognition algorithms. In a subsequent analysis of an independent data set all individual vapors and most binary mixture components were correctly identified and were quantified to within 25% of their actual concentrations. Limits of detection for a 0.25 l. sample collected over a 2.5-min period were <0.3xTLV for 14 of the 16 vapors based on the criterion that all four sensors show a detectable response. Results demonstrate the feasibility of this technology for workplace analysis of breath and ambient air. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Acoustics Air Pollutants, Occupational Noise Occupational Health Safety Solvents
• Keywords:
  Acoustic-signals Analytical-instruments Author Keywords: Volatile Organic Compounds Biological Monitoring Breath Analysis Detectors Organic-vapors Sensor Array Solvent-vapors Surface Acoustic Wave Sensor
• ISSN:
  0003-4878
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Maine ; Michigan ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  45
• Issue:
  8
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20029681
• Citation:
  Ann Occup Hyg 2001 Nov; 45(8):609-623
• Contact Point Address:
  William A. Groves, Department of Environmental Health Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI4801-2029, USA
• Email:
  wag10@psu.edu
• CAS Registry Number:
  Methoxyflurane (CAS RN 76-38-0) ; Tetrachloroethylene (CAS RN 127-18-4) ; Trichloroethylene (CAS RN 79-01-6)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2002
• NORA Priority Area:
  Grants Other
• Performing Organization:
  University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  19950930
• Source Full Name:
  Annals of Occupational Hygiene
• End Date:
  19990228
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7912b3128fd852c1a2e22492ad5f3fd5c947f37b8dde6fbedca19c6ceb58ce3fbdb42693e86b13f41877c706ab0addd33bedb50290aa05d137a9b1549f0178d9
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/190610/cdc_190610_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.15 MB ]