Alkanolamines – Method for the determination of 11 alkanolamines in workplace air using ion chromatography (IC)
Air Monitoring Method – Translation of the German version from 2018
Dietmar Breuer1Morten Blaskowitz1
Parisa Ansari Eshlaghi2
Ralph Hebisch3
Thomas Helmut Brock4
Andrea Hartwig5
MAK Commission6
1 Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance (IFA), Alte Heerstraße 111, 53757 Sankt Augustin, Germany
2 Austrian Workers’ Compensation Board (AUVA), Head office, Adalbert‐Stifter‐Straße 65, 1200 Wien, Austria
3 Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (BAuA), Friedrich-Henkel-Weg 1–25, 44149 Dortmund, Germany
4 German Social Accident Insurance, Institution for the raw materials and chemical industry, Prevention - Department of Hazardous Substances, Biological Agents and Analytical Chemistry, Kurfürsten-Anlage 62, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany
5 Institute of Applied Biosciences, Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Adenauerring 20a, Building 50.41, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
6 Permanent Senate Commission for the Investigation of Health Hazards of Chemical Compounds in the Work Area, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Kennedyallee 40, 53175 Bonn, Germany
Abstract
This analytical method is a validated measurement procedure for the determination of 11 alkanolamines such as 2‐aminoethanol, diethanolamine, triethanolamine, 2‐amino‐2‐methyl‐1‐propanol, 2‐(dimethylamino)ethanol, 2‐(2‐aminoethoxy)ethanol, methyl diethanolamine, 4‐amino‐1‐butanol, (S)‐3‐amino‐1,2‐propanediol, 1‐amino‐2‐propanol and 2‐amino‐2‐methyl‐1,3‐propanediol in workplace air averaged over the sampling period after personal or stationary sampling. Sampling is performed by drawing a defined volume of air through a quartz fibre filter impregnated with methanesulfonic acid. The filter is positioned in a GSP sampling head which comply with the requirement of EN 481 for inhalable aerosols and EN 13936 for particle/vapour mixtures. After solvent extraction the sample solution is analysed by means of ion chromatography with a conductivity detector. The quantitative determination of the alkanolamines is based on calibration functions obtained by means of multiple‐point calibrations. The limit of quantification for an individual alkanolamine is in the range from 0.087 to 0.58 mg/m3.
