• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.517-525
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• 2009

We measured ambient concentrations of hazardous air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and aldehydes in residential areas nearby small and medium scale shipbuilding companies. The VOC concentrations were higher during the normal operation periods than vacation at which almost all operations were shutdown. Concentrations of VOCs was higher, as the sampling site was nearer from shipbuilding companies. The major components of VOCs were m,p-xylene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, toluene, and 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene which had been found as major VOC compounds emitted from painting processes of shipbuilding in the previous studies. The major components of aldehydes analyzed were benzaldehyde, acrolein, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde. The concentration of aldehydes was highest at the furthest sampling point from shipbuilding companies because the formation of aldehyde compounds could be occurred by the secondary chemical reactions of VOCs. The results of this study shows a proper counterplan need to be established for the reduction of hazardous air pollutants emitted from small and medium scale shipping companies.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.4 no.5
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• pp.61-61
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• 1995

Volatile organic compounds(VOCs) are of concern for their potential chronic toxicity, their suspected role in the formation of smog, and their suspected role in destruction of stratospheric ozone. Present study evaluated the exposures to selected VOCs in three microenvironments: 2 chlorinated and 5 aromatic VOCs in the indoor and outdoor air, and 5 aromatic VOCs in the breathing zone air of gas-service station attendants. With permissible Quality Assurance and Quality Control performances VOC concentrations were measured 1) to be higher in indoor air than in outdoor air, 2) to be higher in two Taegu residential areas than in a residential area of Hayang, and 3) to be higher in the nighttime than in the daytime. Among five aromatics, Benzene and Toluene were two most highly measured VOCs in breathing zone air of service station attendants. Based on the sum of VOC concentrations, the VOC exposure during refueling was estimated to be about 10% of indoor and outdoor exposures. For Benzene only, the exposure during refueling was estimated to cause about 52% of indoor and outdoor exposure. The time used to calculate the exposures was 2 minutes for refueling and 24 hours for indoor and outdoor exposures.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.197-205
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• 2002

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are an important public health problem throughout the world. Many important questions remain to be addressed in assessing exposure to these compounds. Because they are ubiquitous and highly volatile, special techniques must be applied in the analytical determination of VOCs. Personal exposure measurements are needed to evaluate the relationship between microenvironmental concentrations and actual exposures. It is also important to investigate exposure frequency, duration, and intensity, as well as personal exposure characteristics. In addition to air monitoring, biological monitoring may contribute significantly to risk assessment by allowing estimation of absorbed doses, rather than just the external exposure concentrations, which are evaluated by environmental and personal monitoring. This study was conducted to establish the analytic procedure of VOCs in air, blood, urine and exhaled breath and to evaluate the relationships among these environmental media. The subjects of this study were selected because they are occupationally exposed to high levels of VOCs. Environmental, personal, blood, urine and exhalation samples were collected. Purge ＆ trap, thermal desorber, gas chromatography and mass selective detector were used to analyze the collected samples. Analytical procedures were validated with the“break through test”, 'quot;recovery test for storage and transportation”,“method detection limit test”and“inter-laboratory QA/QC study”. Assessment of halogenated compounds indicted that they were significantly correlated to each other (p value < 0.01). In a similar manner, aromatic compounds were also correlated, except in urine sample. Linear regression was used to evaluate the relationships between personal exposures and environmental concentrations. These relationships for aromatic and halogenated are as follows: Halogen $s_{personal}$ = 3.875+0.068Halogen $s_{environmet}$, ($R^2$= .930) Aromatic $s_{personal}$ = 34217.757-31.266Aromatic $s_{environmet}$, ($R^2$= .821) Multiple regression was used to evaluate the relationship between exposures and various exposure deter-minants including, gender, duration of employment, and smoking history. The results of the regression model-ins for halogens in blood and aromatics in urine are as follows: Halogen $s_{blood}$ = 8.181+0.246Halogen $s_{personal}$+3.975Gender ($R^2$= .925), Aromatic $s_{urine}$ = 249.565+0.135Aromatic $s_{personal}$ -5.651 D.S ($R^2$ = .735), In conclusion, we have established analytic procedures for VOC measurement in biological and environmental samples and have presented data demonstrating relationships between VOCs levels in biological media and environmental samples. Abbreviation GC/MS, Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometer; VOCs, Volatile Organic Compounds; OVM, Organic Vapor Monitor; TO, Toxic Organicsapor Monitor; TO, Toxic Organics.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.659-670
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• 1997

Vehicle occupant exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has been a subject of concern In recent years because of higher levels of VOCs Inside vehicles as compared to the surrounding ambient atmosphere and because of the toxicity of VOCs. The effectiveness of two commercial ACDs for the removal of selected VOCs in the interior of automobiles was evaluated on 115 commutes throegh urban (Taegu) commutes by two cars and 9 idles. The idling and commuting studios conducted under four different driving conditions showed that the ho commercial ACDs were not effective for the removal of VOCs in the interior of vehicles. The concentrations of all target VOCs except benzene were significantly higher (p<0.05) in the interior of older car than of newer cu. The mean levels of benzene and toluene measured in thins study were well excess of earlier other studios In the United States, besides Los Angeles with which was comparable. It was reported that the in-vehicle exposure to benzene and corresponding upper-bound cancel risk were about 8 times higher than those for outdoor environment, while they were about half of those from Indoor environment.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2002

We investigated the concentration degree of VOCs for ambient air in the air environment control area of Kyonggi-do in 2001. The VOCs showing higher concentration were in the ascending order of Toluene > n-Butane > 1-Butene > Benzene > n-Hexane. The concentration distribution ratio mentioned above showed almost same pattern in each city. The relative concentration ratio of Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, Xylenes which are aromatic VOCs were 1 : 6.3 : 0.6 : 1.6. It was similar to the pattern in 1999 but different from the pattern in 2000. In the aspect of seasons, the highest B.T.E.X concentration was indicated in fall and in the aspect of areas, the higher concentration showed in the ascending order of Buchon > Ansan > Kwangmyong > Shihung > Sungnam. The average concentration of target VOCs for ambient air in the air environment control area of Kyonggi-do showed lower concentration than the metropolis of Seoul but higher concentration than Kwang-ju city and Dae-gu city. The amount of total VOCs was increasing, comparing with it last year and the more increasing tendency is anticipated so that it will need to establish the proper regulative criteria.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.205-214
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• 2004

This study focuses on the measurement of airborne Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the Kumi electronic industrial complex during the time periods of August and September, 2002 and January and February, 2003. This study was based on the US-EPA method TO-14 while the VOCs were analyzed with GC/MSD. The toluene level revealed high concentration at all measurement sites. The areal rank of average concentrations of VOCs is as follows: industry1 > industry2 > urban > middle > residential. Concentrations of VOCs in Kumi electronic industrial ones were generally higher than at Yeochon and Ulsan industrial complexes. Dichloromethane and trichloroethylene, which are used as a cleaner in the process of electronic industries, were observed 4 to 8 times higher than those of other areas. Among the aromatic compounds, toluene showed the highest level, while the concentrations of dichloromethane and trichloroethylene were higher than those of other halogen compounds. In Kumi, toluene, trichloroethylene, and dichloromethane were confirmed as the major compounds of VOCs by this research.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.527-538
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• 2002

In this study, the performance of sampling and of analytical methodology was examined against a number of selected volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the ambient air. The canister-based sampling method for VOCs has been a viable and widely used approach that is based on research and evaluation performed over the past several years. VOCs were determined using canisters by GCMSD analysis. A total of target analyses in this study included approximately 30 VOCs designated in TO-l4A categories including BTEX. The methodology for QC(quality control) was intensively investigated with a wide range of performance criteria such as; (1) cleanliness of canisters, (2) reproducibility of diluter, (3) instrumental detection limits of preconcentrator and GCMSD, and (4) precision and accuracy of GCMSD. For most of the compounds tested, precision was less than $\pm$5%, IDL was 0.2 ppbv, accuracy was $\pm$5%, respectively. This study demonstrated that the combination of canister sampling and GC/MSD analysis could be reliably applied to the measurements of BTEX in ppbv levels that are typically observed in/outdoor air environment.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.171-176
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• 2008

The VOCs have a direct influence on indoor air pollution, and stimulate respiratory organs and eyes in human body. Also, most of VOCs are a carcinogenic substances and causes to SBS (sickness building syndrome). Therefore, this study was progressed in photocatalysis of VOCs using UV/$TiO_2$ which was a benign process environmentally. The experiments were performed to know photodegradation characteristics as crystalline structure of $TiO_2$ which had anatase, rutile and P-25 (anatase : rutile = 70 : 30). The main purpose of this study was to identify photocatalytic characteristics as inlet concentration of reactants, $H_2O$, and residence time.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.53-59
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• 1994

Since trihalomethanes (THMs) and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were detected and measured in drinking water supplies in 1974, because of the frequent occurrence of these compounds and the potential health hazard they pose, several methods for detecting VOCs have been developed. The most widely accepted method for the analysis of THMs and other VOCs is a purgeand-trap method. In the analysis of VOCs by purge-and-trap,there are several factors which may give rise to errors. Some of the factors to be considered are purge time, carryover effect, cryofocusing temperature, and trap desorption temperature. In this study,many aspects of purge-and-trap were investigated. Understanding the sources of error makes it possible to adapt the analysis parameters to compensate for such effects.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 2004

Air quality monitoring is a primary activity for industrial and social environment. The government push for pollutants that must be monitored. Especially, the VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds), which are very harmful for human and environment, should be controlled under the government policy. We have been developed a VOCs measurement system which recognize various kinds and quantities of VOCs, such as benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX). Especially, we designed sensor array with various kinds of gas sensor and ANN (Artificial Neural Network) algorithm. The measured values for BTX have errors of-4ppm.