Development of Methods for Detecting and Measuring Volatile Human Effluents

摘要

Methods have been developed for determing the various constituents and amounts of volatile effluents emitted by man. A chamber was designed and constructed for collection of the effluents. A description is given of the equipment, its operation, and the procedures for preparing air that is free of contaminants for the chamber. Chamber air containing effluents from man is sampled by means of cryogenic trapping, and two condensation nuclei counters are used to measure submicroscopic liquid and solid particles. One contains a converter that changes ammonia gas to submicroscopic airborne particles. Air from the chamber is also monitored for CO2 content. Retention times and relative retention times for various peaks in gas chromatograms permit tentative identification of constituents by comparing the values with retention times of over 200 standard compounds previously determined under nearly identical conditions. Mass spectrometry was used to confirm identities. Preliminary runs have been made on three chamber experiments with man. At least 12 constituents have been identified definitely and another 19, tentatively. The promblems in interpreting gas chromatograms and mass spectral data for identification of various components in effluents from man are discussed. (Author)