Industrial hygiene

Instructor – Dr. Tamaghna Chakraborti

Ph. No. – (0)9892770980
Outline
• Definition of industrial hygiene
• Different phases of an industrial hygiene project
• Anticipation and identification
• Evaluation
• Control
• Evaluating worker exposure to toxic vapor
• Estimation of toxic vapor concentration over
a. Evaporating pool
b. Opening in vessel
c. During filling operations
• Industrial hygiene – Control
• Ventilation
Definition of industrial hygiene
• Science devoted to the a) identification, b) evaluation and c) control of
occupational conditions that cause sickness or injury
• Industrial hygienists responsible for selecting and using instrumentation to
monitor the workplace during the identification and control phases of
industrial hygiene projects
• Typical projects:
• Monitoring toxic air-borne vapor concentration
• Reducing toxic air-borne vapor concentration through the use of ventilation
• Selecting proper personnel protective equipment to prevent worker exposure
• Developing procedures for the handling of hazardous equipment
• Monitoring and reducing noise, heat, radiation and other physical factors
Four phases of industrial hygiene
• Anticipation: expectation of the presence of workplace hazards and
worker exposures
• Identification: determination of the presence of workplace exposures
• Evaluation: determination of the magnitude of the exposure
• Control: application of appropriate technology to reduce workplace
exposures to acceptable levels
Anticipation and Identification
• Requires discipline, skill, concern and attention to detail
• A thorough study of the chemical process, operating conditions and
operating procedures
• Information must be gathered from sources such as:
• Process design descriptions
• Operating instructions
• Safety reviews
• Equipment vendor descriptions
• Information from chemical suppliers
• Information from operating personnel
• Potential hazards and methods of contact are identified and recorded
 Anticipation and Identification (Cont’d)
• Hazards may be identified using
the following techniques:
• Odor threshold (provided odor
threshold is less than TLV)
• Material safety data sheets (MSDS)
• Available from a) chemical
manufacturer, b) a commercial
source or c) a private library
developed by the chemical plant
• Contains information about the
physical and toxicological properties
to determine the hazards associated
with a chemical
Evaluation
• Primary aim is to determine the extent and degree of employee
exposure to toxicants and physical hazards in the workplace
environment
• Also to study the effectiveness of control measures
• Samples taken from time to time to determine worker’s exposure to
conditions that may be harmful
• Obtain exposure data from the samples (measure the concentration of
the toxicant in the sample)
• Actual exposure levels compared to acceptable occupational health
standards like TLV
Evaluating exposure to volatile matter by
monitoring
• Continuous
  monitoring of the toxicant air concentration on-line in a work
environment
• For continuous concentration data, C(t), the TWA ( Time-Weighted
Average) concentration is evaluated using:

C(t) is the concentration of the toxicant in air and tw is the worker shift
time in hrs
• Integral always divided by 8 hrs independent of the length of time
actually worked in the shift
• Continuous monitoring however not the actual situation
Intermittent sampling
• The
  more usual case – sampling performed at regular time intervals
• Represents worker exposure at fixed points in time
• Assumption: Concentration is fixed in the time interval between two
sampling points

• All monitoring systems have drawbacks:

• Workers move in and out of the exposed workplace
• Concentration of toxicants vary at different locations in the work area.
• Selection and placement of workplace monitoring equipment and
interpretation of the data  important part of industrial hygiene
Interpretation of data
•  For a single toxicant species:
• time-weighted average concentration < TLV-TWA
• For more than one chemical present:

• Workers are over-exposed if:

Problem
Air contains 5 ppm of diethylamine (TLV-TWA of 5 ppm), 20 ppm of
cyclohexanol (TLV-TWA of 50 ppm) and 10 ppm of propylene oxide (TLV-
TWA of 2 ppm). What is the mixture TLV-TWA and has this level been
exceeded?
Solution
• 
= 5.5 ppm
Total mixture concentration = 5 + 20 + 10 = 35 ppm
• So workers are overexposed
• Alternative technique:

Since this quantity is greater than 1, the TLV-TWA has been exceeded.
Problem
•Determine
  the mixture TLV at 25°C of a mixture derived from the
following liquid:
Component Mole % in liquid Species TLV (ppm)
Heptane 50 400
Toluene 50 20

Vapor pressures of heptane and toluene are reported as:

Solution
•  From Raoult’s law we know that:

So,

Total pressure = (23.2+14.1) mm Hg = 37.3 mm Hg

So, composition of leaking gas:
Solution (cont’d)
•  So mixture TLV is computed as:

= 48.9 ppm
The TLVs for the individual species in the mixture are:

• For mixtures of substances, the individual species TLVs are

significantly reduced
Evaluating worker exposures to dust
• Industrial hygiene includes any contaminants that may cause health
injuries
• According to toxicological theory, dust particles that present the
greatest hazard to lungs fall in the range 0.2-0.5 μm.
• So TLVs of dust particles vary in accordance to the size of the dust
particles
• TLVs measured in mg/m3 or mppcf (millions of particles per cubic feet)
• Estimation of TLVs of dust particles are similar to that of volatile vapors
Evaluating worker exposure to noise
•  Noise a common problem in chemical plants
• Common source of noise: moving machinery parts like pumps,
compressors
• Noise level measured in decibels:

• Noise evaluation calculations performed identical to that of volatile

vapors except hours of exposure used instead of concentration
Problem
• Determine whether the following noise level is permissible with no
additional features.
Noise level (dBA) Duration (hr) Maximum allowed (hr)
85 3.6 16
95 3.0 4
110 0.5 0.5
Solution
• 
• Exceeds 1, so immediate protection needed for employees
Estimating worker exposure to toxic vapor
• Best procedure  Measure the toxic vapor concentrations directly
• Sometimes estimates are required for the purposes of design
a) In enclosed spaces
b) Above open containers
c) Where drums are filled
d) In the area of spills
• We consider the following situation.
• Evolution rate of volatiles, Qm
• Ventilation rate, Qv
Cont’d
•Total
  mass of volatile in volume = VC
Accumulation of mass of volatile =

Mass rate of volatile matter resulting from

evolution =
Mass rate of volatile matter out by ventilation =
where,
k = non-ideal mixing factor
Cont’d
•  Mass balance: Accumulation = Input – Output

• At steady state,

• Concentration C is in terms of mass/volume

• Has to be converted into ppm volume/volume
Cont’d
• First
  term in brackets is the concentration of the volatile matter in
mass/volume.
• C in the mass balance equation
• So,

• All terms known except

• The above equation can be applied in two cases:
• A worker standing near a pool of volatile vapor
• A worker standing near open container or opening to a storage tank of volatile
matter
Important assumptions
• Calculated concentration is average concentration in the enclosure
• Localized conditions could result in significantly higher concentrations
• Steady-state condition is assumed
• Accumulation term in mass balance = 0
Estimating vaporization rate of liquid
•  Liquids with high saturation vapor pressures evaporate faster
• So,

where,
= saturation vapor pressure of the pure liquid at the temperature of
the liquid
= partial pressure of the vapor in the bulk stagnant gas above the liquid
Vaporization rate (Cont’d)
•  More general expression of the vaporization rate available

= molecular weight of the volatile substance,

= mass transfer coefficient (length/time) for area A,
= ideal gas constant,
= absolute temperature of the bulk liquid.
• For most situations,
• So above equation becomes:
Estimating toxic vapor concentration
•  Substituting the vaporization rate into the equation for volatile vapor
concentration, we get:

• If the liquid is at the same temperature as ambient:

• How do you estimate mass transfer coefficient?

D is the gas phase diffusion coefficient

Toxic vapor concentration (cont’d)
•  Gas phase diffusion coefficients are estimated from the molecular
weight of the species

• Thus,

• Water is the most frequently used reference substance and its mass
transfer coefficient is 0.83 cm/sec
Problem
A large open tank with a 5-ft diameter contains toluene. Estimate the
evaporation rate from this tank assuming a temperature of 77°F and a
pressure of 1 atm. If the ventilation rate is 3000 ft3/min, estimate the
concentration of toluene in the workplace enclosure.

Saturation vapor pressure of toluene at 77°F is given as: 28.2 mm Hg

Solution
•  Molecular weight of toluene: 92
• Mass transfer coefficient estimated as:

= 0.482 cm/s
• Saturation pressure of toluene:

• Pool area:
Solution (cont’d)
•  Evaporation rate computed as:

=
=
• To find the concentration:
• Non-ideal mixing factor  an unknown parameter
• RHS  all known parameters, so LHS can be calculated easily
• Only the range of concentration can be determined
Calculating the concentration range
• 
= 230 ppm
• Range of concentrations: determined by putting the minimum and
maximum value of non-ideal mixing factor

• So, concentration range: 460 – 2300 ppm

• TLV for toluene = 20 ppm
• So, increasing the ventilation rate is recommended
Worker exposures during vessel filling
operations
•  Two sources of volatile emission:
• Evaporation of the liquid,
• Displacement of the vapor by the liquid
filling up the vessel,
• Net generation equal to sum of both
the sources
• already computed in previous model
of evaporation from pool
• How to determine ?
 Determination of
•Let
   volume of the container,
 constant filling rate of the vessel with units of time inverse
Volumetric rate of displacement of bulk vapor =
Mass rate of vapor flowing out because of displacement =
Now,
So,
• Has to be adjusted for unsaturation conditions  vapor coming out of
vessel may not be saturated
= 0.5, for sub-surface
•  Factor < 1 for unsaturated vapor filling
= 1.0, for splash filling
Total flow rate of vapor
•  =
Putting this in the equation for concentration and putting

• For practical considerations, evaporation term << displacement term

Industrial hygiene - Control
• Post identification and evaluation, appropriate control techniques to
be developed and installed
• Application of appropriate technology to reduce workplace exposures
• What technologies can be adopted?
• Use enclosures
• Local ventilation
• Dilution ventilation
• Wet methods – to prevent dusts
• Personal protection – as a last line of defense
Ventilation
• Two types of ventilation:
• Local ventilation
• Dilution ventilation
• Example of local ventilation  use of hood
• A device that either completely encloses the source of containment and/or
moves air in such a fashion so as to carry the contaminant to an exhaust
device
• Many different types of hoods available
• Dilution ventilation  For contaminants which cannot be placed in a
hood
• Requires more air-flow and hence, operating expenses than local ventilation