Urinary 1-hydroxypyrene as a biomarker of internal dose of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in carbon black workers.

In this study, a total of 30 workers were selected, including eight wet pelletizing workers and 22 packaging workers. For all selected workers, urine samples were collected on the first day pre-shift, first day post-shift and fifth day post-shift, and their urinary 1-hydroxylpyrene levels (1-OHP) were determined (denoted as BM1pre, BM1post and BM5post, respectively). Personal respiratory exposures, including both inhalable particle-bound PAHs (Cinh) and gaseous PAHs (Cgas), together with dermal exposure to particle-bound PAHs (Cskin) were measured.

Characterization of PAHs in the atmosphere of carbon black manufacturing workplaces.

The objective of this study was set out to characterize the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) content in the atmosphere of an oil furnace carbon black manufacturing plant located in southern Taiwan. A standard semi-volatile sampling train, the PS-1 sampler, was used to collect samples from eight areas, including the feedstock oil unloading, furnace, filtering/micro-pulverization, pelletizing, packaging, office/outside, office/inside, and boundary area, respectively. For each area, side-by-side static samples were collected simultaneously and a total of 16 samples were obtained.