Formaldehyde Monitoring

Presented by

Michael D. Shaw

FORMALDEHYDE

HEALTH EFFECTS

CARCINOGENICITY

EPA—“B1” Probable human carcinogen

ACGIH—“A2” Suspected human carcinogen

WHO (IARC)—“Group 1” Carcinogenic to humans

PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS

1-10 ppm—Eye irritation; lacrimation at 4 ppm

10-20 ppm—Coughing, heart palpitations, tight feeling in chest

50-100 ppm and above—Pulmonary edema, pneumonitis, death

Contact with skin (formalin or HCHO-containing resins)—Dermatitis

Male single oral ingestion 517 mg/kg (DHHS)

Minimum Fatal Dose Level —

OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE STANDARDS

ACGIH TLV®

0.3 ppm (Ceiling)

OSHA PEL

0.75 ppm (TWA)2 ppm (Ceiling)

NIOSH REL

0.016 ppm (TWA)0.1 ppm (Ceiling)

NIOSH ANALYTICAL METHODS

Method 2016 most sensitive

Silica gel/2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine

Method 2541

Sorbent tube/2-hydroxymethyl piperidine

(1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene-3,6-disulfonic acid)

Impinger/chromotropic acid

Method 3500

INSTRUMENT METHODS—PRACTICAL AND OTHERWISE

FTIR

Semi-automated wet chemical methods

Electrochemical (converted alcohol detectors)

Interscan purpose-designed HCHO sensor

INTERSCAN FORMALDEHYDE SENSOR

ADVANTAGES

Good sensitivity

0-500 parts-per-billion full scale measuring range available

Excellent specificity

Little effect from alcohols

Full interference info on gasdetection.com website

Quick response time

Rise time to 50%

Rise time to 90% 30-45 seconds

5-10 seconds

APPLICATIONS

HCHO ubiquitous in the workplace, however…

Biggest applications have been in the forest products industry

e.g., monitoring of emissions from manufactured wood products

Interscan’s HCHO sensor is the heart of Georgia Pacific’s

DYNAMIC MICROCHAMBER

Board compliance testing time reduced from 2 weeks to less than an hour

MONITORING PRODUCTSOFFERED BY

PORTABLE ANALYZER

CONTINUOUS MONITORING SYSTEMSINGLE POINT APPLICATION

CONTINUOUS MONITORING SYSTEMTWO POINT APPLICATION

CONTINUOUS MONITORING SYSTEMMULTI-POINT (THREE OR MORE) APPLICATION

ARC-MAX® DATA ACQUISITION, ARCHIVING,

AND REPORTING

ARC-MAX® MAIN SCREEN

ARC-MAX® SHIFT REPORT

ARC-MAX® TRENDING

ARC-MAX® ALARM LOG

For Survey Applications,We Recommend Our Nomad Data Logger

16-bit resolution

Models available for voltage and 4-20mA inputs

Self-contained units also available for temperature, humidity and pH

Sampling rate adjustable—1 second to 10 hours in 1 second intervals

Storage capacity—522,240 readings

Excellent software included

Visualize your measurement session with an auto-scaling time history graph

Time history graph detail screen

Zoomed in on particular portion of the curve

Ability To View All Individual Data Points

CONCLUDING REMARKS

We've covered the health effects and occupational standards for formaldehyde

We've looked at wet chemical and instrumental methods for formaldehyde

We've seen a special application of Interscan's HCHO sensor

SPECIAL THANKS TO

PROFESSOR GEORGE BYRNS

the Prairie Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association

and