CS2: another possible renal damaging solvent

The cross-sectional study of the health effects of occupational exposure to carbon disulfide in a Chinese viscose plant

This article presents results of carbon disulfide exposure assessment in a Chinese viscose rayon factory and represents the cross-sectional study beginning phase of the occupational epidemiological project. The authors measured external exposure levels to carbon disulfide at a Chinese viscose rayon factory and monitored results as internal exposure indexes by testing urine samples of workers exposed to carbon disulfide levels. The rate at which carbon disulfide is metabolized by exposed subjects was demonstrated by 2-thio-thiazolidine-4-carboxylic acid (TTCA) concentrations in urine of exposed subjects, which was studied to determine best time points for internal exposure sampling. Carbon disulfide concentrations in the air of the workplace were analyzed with gas chromatography with flame photometric detector (GC-FPD); presence of TTCA in urine samples of subjects was determined using a modified high-performance liquid chromatography method. Kinetics of TTCA excretion was studied by analysis at different time points during and after exposure of workers to carbon disulfide. A total of 155 personal samples were obtained. Carbon disulfide concentration at staple viscose hall was found to be 13.72 +/- 1.12 mg/m3 in terms of geometric mean and geometric standard deviation. Carbon disulfide concentration at filament spinning hall was found to be 20.05 +/- 1.33 mg/m3. TTCA values of subjects at staple spinning hall were 1.18 +/- 0.43 and 1.07 +/- 0.38 mg/g creatinine for subjects working at filament spinning hall. The best time for TTCA sampling is at the end of the exposure-working shift.

Carbon disulfide exposure assessment in a Chinese viscose filament plant

Carbon disulfide is a well-known occupational hazard in the viscose industry, and studies have shown considerable health effects when workers are exposed to high concentrations of this reagent. At exposure levels below the TLV-TWA(31 mg/m3), findings remain contradictory, probably due to deficient exposure data. The present study tries to identify the occupational hazards and thoroughly assess the exposure levels in a Chinese viscose rayon plant.

METHODS

An industrial hygienic field survey and a sampling campaign were carried out, including multi-gas monitoring, on-line measurements, and stationary assessment in the spinning hall as well as personal exposure sampling for spinners (by charcoal tube absorbing and GC-FPD analysis). All data was introduced into Foxpro database, and analyzed by Epi info (6.04) and SPSS.

RESULTS

On-line measurement showed that the geometric mean (GM) of carbon disulfide exposure amounted to 12.73 mg/m3 in 'exposure' and 0.08 mg/m3 in 'non-exposure' worksites. These concentrations in the air were related to the subject's activities showing the highest levels when they had to open the shield windows of the spinning machines. Stationary exposure measurements of carbon disulfide in the spinning hall amounted to 23.29 mg/m3 GM (range 5.8-97.94 mg/m3). Personal exposure of spinners was about 17.3 mg/m3 GM. Comparing these methods, the personal exposure sampling could exactly express the exposure levels of the worker's contacting situation. The on-line measurement by multi-gas monitor might also be recommended to the factory as it has its own advantages of rapid and independent assessment, but it under-estimates the exposure level.

Candidate EPA, NIOSH method for determining carbon disulfide in air with capillary gas chromatography by orthogonal design

This paper describes a candidate NIOSH EPA method for the determination of carbon disulfide in the air of workplaces with capillary gas chromatography using an orthogonal design. This method is designed to replace the packed column of the NIOSH method with a capillary column. The first part of this work concerned the setup of the method, particularly the choice of chromatographic parameters and finding their main favorable working ranges. The second part, using the statistical method orthogonal design, focused on optimizing the GC conditions, which were: column temperature, T(c) = 90 degrees C; injector temperature, T(i) = 140 degrees C; U section detector temperature, FPDU = 160 degrees C; L section detector temperature, FPDL = 210 degrees C; flow rate of carrier gas, F(c) = 20 cm/s; split ratio = 1/70; and injection volume = 1 microL. The quality control test showed that the coefficient of intra-day variation (CV) was 2.21%. A good logarithm linear correlation between the standard solutions and their peak areas was obtained. In general, the method reported here seems a valid candidate for a NIOSH EPA method due to its high precision and accuracy.