title: Alternatives for Benzene in the Extraction of Bitumen Fume from Exposure Sample Media.
abstract: Benzene is frequently used to extract collected bitumen fumes from personal sampler substrates. However, this solvent is particularly dangerous because of its carcinogenicity (group 1 of the International Agency for Research on Cancer classification). Therefore, to prevent the exposure of laboratory technicians to benzene during the fume extraction step from samplers, a compromise had to be found to identify a less toxic solvent with the same extraction capacity. To compare the extraction capacities of selected solvents, bitumen fumes were generated in the laboratory from three different batches of road surfacing bitumen collected on dedicated bitumen fume samplers. The samplers were then extracted by benzene and the solvents tested. Of 11 selected solvents less toxic than benzene and used in studies on bitumen and bitumen fume analyses, n-hexane and n-heptane were identified as alternatives to benzene. In particular, the results demonstrated that n-heptane was the best candidate solvent for benzene replacement, due to its extraction efficiency comparable to benzene for the three bitumen fumes tested and its low toxicity, which is highly compatible with benzene replacement.
authors.affiliation: Pollutants Metrology Department, Institut National de Recherche et Sécurité (INRS), Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France benjamin.sutter@inrs.fr.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sutter
authors.affiliation: Pollutants Metrology Department, Institut National de Recherche et Sécurité (INRS), Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France.
authors.forename: Christel
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ravera
authors.affiliation: Pollutants Metrology Department, Institut National de Recherche et Sécurité (INRS), Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hussard
authors.affiliation: Pollutants Metrology Department, Institut National de Recherche et Sécurité (INRS), Vandoeuvre les Nancy, France.
authors.forename: Eddy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Langlois
mesh_terms: D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000032:analysis; D001554:Benzene; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005374:Filtration; D006536:Heptanes; D006586:Hexanes; D006801:Humans; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D019570:Inhalation Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control*; D059232:Laboratory Personnel; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D012997:Solvents / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D006536:Heptanes; D006586:Hexanes; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D012997:Solvents; C026385:n-hexane; C028618:n-heptane; C006647:asphalt; D001554:Benzene
keywords: benzene; bitumen fumes; n-heptane; sampling; solvent extraction; substitution