Effectiveness and Cost Benefit of a Luminescence Screening Procedure for Polyaromatic Pollutants in Ambient Air

摘要

This study demonstrates the sensitivity and usefulness of the screening procedures for PNAs in air samples collected at occupational and residential environments. The low concentrations of PNAs in indoor air samples, below the detection limits of GC/MS and HPLC, are in good agreement with the results predicted by the screening measurements. Although, the usefulness of analytical techniques such as GC/MS and HPLC are well established, it is not cost-effective to apply these tools systematically to all samples, especially when many of the samples contain low levels of PNAs or similar PNA constituents that can be predicted in a screening phase. Before selection of which group of samples is to be analyzed in detail or which analytical techniques to be utilized, it is desirable to have some screening procedure to priorities samples. Such a screening step may obviate the need to perform unnecessary and costly detailed analyses and will lower the cost of health effect assessment studies. 10 references, 2 figures, 1 table. (ERA citation 09:036249)