AAAR 36th Annual Conference October 16 - October 20, 2017 Raleigh Convention Center Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Abstract View
A Kitchen Degreaser Can Alter Aerosol Composition in a Room for Days
JAROSLAV SCHWARZ, Otakar Makeš, Jakub Ondrácek, Michael Cusack, Nicholas Talbot, Petr Vodicka, Lucie Kubelová, Vladimír Ždímal, Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals CAS
Abstract Number: 329 Working Group: Indoor Aerosols
Abstract Indoor aerosol is of great importance because people spend about 80% of their lives indoors. In this study the first indoor observation of an aerosol transformation is described being linked to a kitchen degreaser containing mono-ethanol amine. Mono-ethanol amine (MEA) used in the degreaser and being present in a room on cleaned surfaces and paper towel used for their cleaning transformed ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate into (MEA)2SO4 and (MEA)NO3. This effect was visible for several days despite a high average ventilation rate. The influence was characterized using offline (filters, impactors, followed by ion chromatography analysis) and online (compact time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer, field OC/EC analyser) measurements. Replacement of ammonia in ammonium salts was seen both in aerosol and in particles collected on a filter before the usage of MEA degreaser. A similar effect of other amines can be expected based on earlier laboratory data. The described influence shows a new pathway for MEA exposure of people in an indoor environment that can be important especially for professionals working with similar degreasers. The stabilizing effect on indoor nitrate also causes higher indoor exposure to fine nitrates.
The authors acknowledge support of this work by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007e2013) under grant agreement No. 315760 HEXACOMM.