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Tracking personal exposure to particulate diesel exhaust in a diesel freight terminal using organic tracer analysis

Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology volume 19, pages 172–186 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Personal exposure to particle-phase molecular markers was measured at a trucking terminal in St Louis, MO, as part of a larger epidemiologic project aimed at assessing carbonaceous fine particulate matter (PM) exposure in this occupational setting. The integration of parallel personal exposure, ambient worksite area and ambient urban background (St Louis Supersite) measurements provided a unique opportunity to track the work-related exposure to carbonaceous fine PM in a freight terminal. The data were used to test the proposed personal exposure model in this occupational setting:

To accurately assess the impact of PM emission sources, particularly motor vehicle exhaust, and organic elemental carbon (OCEC) analysis and nonpolar organic molecular marker analysis by thermal desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TD-GCMS) were conducted on all of the PM samples. EC has been used as a tracer for diesel exhaust in urban areas, however, the emission profile for diesel exhaust is dependent upon the operating conditions of the vehicle and can vary considerably within a fleet. Hopanes, steranes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and alkanes were measured by TD-GCMS. Hopanes are source-specific organic molecular markers for lubricating oil present in motor vehicle exhaust. The concentrations of OC, EC and the organic tracers were averaged to obtain average profiles to assess differences in the personal, worksite area and urban background samples, and were also correlated individually by sample time to evaluate the exposure model presented above. Finally, a chemical mass balance model was used to apportion the motor vehicle and cigarette-smoke components of the measured OC and EC for the average personal exposure, worksite area and urban background samples.

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Acknowledgements

This sampling and organic and elemental analysis were funded by NIH/NCI R01 CA90792 and the organic speciation analysis was funded by HEI 4705-RFA03–1/04-1. We acknowledge the work by Mark Meirtiz at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene in assisting in the development of the TD-GCMS method used in this study. We thank Jay Turner for assistance in coordinating sample collection at the St Louis Supersite. We also thank the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Safety and Health Dept. (LaMont Byrd) and the participating companies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Chemistry and Technology Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    Rebecca J Sheesley & James J Schauer

  2. Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

    James J Schauer & Jeffrey T Deminter

  3. Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine Section, Medical Service, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Eric Garshick

  4. Department of Medicine, Channing Laboratory, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Eric Garshick & Francine Laden

  5. Department of Environmental Health, Exposure, Epidemiology and Risk Program, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Francine Laden, Thomas J Smith & Andrew P Blicharz

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  1. Rebecca J Sheesley
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Correspondence to James J Schauer.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the Journal of Exposure Analysis and Environmental Epidemiology website (http://www.nature.com/jes)

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Sheesley, R., Schauer, J., Garshick, E. et al. Tracking personal exposure to particulate diesel exhaust in a diesel freight terminal using organic tracer analysis. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 19, 172–186 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/jes.2008.11

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