The Use of Polyurethane Foam (PUF) Passive Air Samplers in Exposure Studies to PAHs in Swedish Seafarers

The aim of this study was to test the usefulness of polyurethane foam (PUF) passive air samplers as stationary, and, for the first time, as personal samplers for one week’s sampling period of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in occupational air. Routine monitoring of workplace exposure is commonly performed with active sampling. However, active samplers can sometimes be unsuitable; e.g., it is difficult to make time-integrated measurements, longer than one day, and they can be noisy and obstructive. Indoor air quality on ships is an important aspect of the environment which has not been studied extensively on ships. For seafarers, good indoor air quality becomes particularly important as the ship represents both a working and living environment. In this study, measurements were carried out on two occasions on two different ships, at different workplaces, and for various personnel categories. On each ship, measurements were performed before and after a change of the type of fuel that the ships were operating on. We found a considerable wide range of PAHs exposure levels for the various workplaces and personnel categories on the ships. The stationary measurements, sum 32 PAHs, ranged from 33-39,000 ng m−3 and the personal exposure measurements ranged from 61-8,400 ng m−3. The results point to that the content of PAHs in the fuel can affect the indoor air environment on the entire ship. Further, the results demonstrate that the PUF sampler can serve as a simple and usable screening tool for estimating and tracking point sources of PAHs in micro-environments. Moreover, this study contributes to increased knowledge of exposure to and sources of PAHs for seafarers.

本研究旨在验证聚氨酯泡沫（polyurethane foam, PUF）被动空气采样器用于职业环境空气中多环芳烃（polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs）为期一周采样的实用性，并首次将其应用为个人采样器。职业场所接触的常规监测通常采用主动采样法，但主动采样器存在一定局限性：例如难以开展时长超过1天的时间整合性测量，且设备易产生噪音、造成使用阻碍。船舶室内空气质量是环境的重要组成部分，但目前针对船舶场景的相关研究尚不充分。对于海员而言，船舶既是工作场所也是生活空间，因此良好的室内空气质量尤为关键。本研究分两次在两艘不同船舶的多个工作场所、针对不同岗位人员开展了采样测量；每艘船舶均在其燃油类型更换前后分别进行采样。研究发现，船舶不同工作场所及岗位人员的PAHs暴露水平跨度极大：固定式采样的32种PAHs总浓度范围为33~39000 ng·m⁻³，个人暴露采样的浓度范围为61~8400 ng·m⁻³。结果表明，燃油中的PAHs含量可影响整艘船舶的室内空气环境。此外，本研究证实PUF采样器可作为一种简便易用的筛查工具，用于估算和追踪微环境中PAHs的点源。本研究还进一步丰富了学界对海员PAHs暴露情况及其来源的认知。