Field Evaluation of a Transportable Open-Path FTIR Spectrometer for Real-Time Air Monitoring

To effectively and accurately evaluate human exposures to chemicals, it is important to quantify mixtures of chemicals in air, at low levels, and in real time. The purpose of this study was to evaluate, in the field, a prototype of a new transportable instrument that can fill an important gap in methods available to industrial hygienists. This instrument is a cross between extractive and open-path Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometers and measures chemicals passively and in real time in the vicinity of the breathing zone. The spectrometer has a folded optical path that can be enclosed, similar to an extractive system. The enclosure can be removed, enabling the optical path to be open to the atmosphere; thus, the instrument could be operated as an open-path spectrometer.A field study was conducted in three different occupational settings, including a prosthodontics dental laboratory, a surgery recovery area, and a cytology laboratory.Chemicals that were identified and quantified included methyl methacry...