Exposure to Hydrogen Sulfide, Mercaptans and Sulfur Dioxide in Pulp Industry

Kangas, Juhani; Jäppinen, Paavo; Savolainen, Hannu

doi:10.1080/15298668491400647

Cited by 65 publications

(32 citation statements)

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“…Furthermore, it is close to concentrations usually found in well equipped kraft pulp mills without any accidental leaks. 8 Other malodorous sulphur compounds are also found in kraft pulp mills and in their vicinity, so that exposure to pure hydrogen sulphide is virtually non-existent. Concentrations of methyl mercaptan may be as high or even higher than those of hydrogen sulphide,8 with dimethyl sulphide and dimethyl disulphide being found at a lower concentrations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to hydrogen sulphide and respiratory function.

Jäppinen¹,

Vilkka²,

Marttila³

et al. 1990

Occupational and Environmental Medicine

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A study was carried out to assess possible effects of low concentrations of hydrogen sulphide on respiratory function. The cohort comprised 26 male pulp mill workers (mean age 40 3, range 22-60 years) with a daily exposure to hydrogen sulphide in the workplace, and 10 volunteers, who had asthma (three men, mean age 40 7, range 33 to 50 years, and seven women, mean age 44 1, range 31 to 61 years). The respiratory function of the pulp mill workers was monitored by measuring forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), and bronchial responsiveness after at least one day off work and at the end of a workday. Bronchial responsiveness was tested by challenge with histamine. The 10 asthmatic subjects were exposed in laboratory conditions to 2 ppm of hydrogen sulphide for 30 minutes in an exposure chamber. Airway resistance (Raw) and specific airway conductance (SGaw) were assessed by a body plethysmograph, and the ventilatory capacities were measured with a flow volume spirometer. No significant changes in respiratory function or bronchial responsiveness related to exposure to hydrogen sulphide in the pulp mill workers were found. In the asthmatic subjects, Raw was increased by 26.3% and SGaw was decreased by 8-4% on average after exposure to hydrogen sulphide. These changes were not statistically significant. In two subjects, however, changes were greater than 30% in both Raw and SGaw, indicating bronchial obstruction. It is conEnso-Gutzeit Oy, Occupational Health Centre, SF-55800 Imatra, Finland P Jappinen Allergy and Environment Institute in South Karelia, Tiuruniemi, Finland

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exposure to hydrogen sulphide and respiratory function.

Jäppinen¹,

Vilkka²,

Marttila³

et al. 1990

Occupational and Environmental Medicine

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“…The power plant departments of sulphate pulp mills include evaporation plants and recovery boilers, with 585 586 hydrogen sulphide concentrations of up to 20 ppm and methyl mercaptan concentrations of up to 5 ppm. 22 Regional differences have been observed in death from ischaemic heart disease in Finland, the highest rates being in the east and the lowest in the south west. The mortality from ischaemic heart disease has been somewhat higher in the province of Kymi (age standardised annual mortality rate for men aged 35 to 64 per 100 000 in 1969:540) than in the western part of the country (in the province of Turku and Pori the annual rate in 1969 was 365) but considerably lower than in North Karelia, where coronary mortality rates are high (annual rate in 1969:688).23-25 The fact that there was not an excess of deaths from diseases of the circulatory system or from ischaemic heart disease among the men of the sawmill cohort suggests that regional differences probably do not explain the excesses of these deaths among the pulp and paper workers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A mortality study of Finnish pulp and paper workers.

Jäppinen¹

1987

Occupational and Environmental Medicine

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Mortality among workers in the Finnish pulp and paper industry was evaluated in a retrospective cohort study of 3520 workers who had been employed continuously for at least one year between 1945 and 1961. Six subcohorts were formed according to six work areas: sulphite, sulphate, paper, and board mills, maintenance department, and power plant. National mortality rates were used for comparison. The mortality of a cohort of 1290 sawmill workers was also studied in order to have a socially, geographically, and occupationally similar group without the exposures typical of the pulp and paper industry for comparison. Smoking habits were surveyed. Mortality was followed up until 31 December 1981. Overall mortality for the entire cohort did not differ from that expected (1044 obs, 1029-4 exp, SMR 101), but there was an excess of deaths from diseases of the circulatory system among the men (489 obs, 404 9 exp, SMR 121). This was due to the excess of deaths from ischaemic heart disease found among the men at the sulphite, sulphate, and paper mills, maintenance department, and power plant, but not at the sawmill. The existing smoking data did not explain this finding and it may therefore be associated with occupational exposures.

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“…Concentrations of sulfur compounds emitted from the pulping processes [7±10, 14,16,18,28,30] and of chlorine compounds used in the bleaching of pulp [3,4,7,8,16,18] have been reported. Organochlorine compounds have also been identi®ed, usually in trace amounts, in the treatment of spent liquors in kraft pulp mills [6,25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Organochlorine compounds have also been identi®ed, usually in trace amounts, in the treatment of spent liquors in kraft pulp mills [6,25]. Exposure to polychlorinated dioxins or furans in pulp, paper or paper product manufacture have been estimated and measured [5,14,15,17]. Paper dust, micro-organisms and endotoxins have been measured in recycling and other paper mills [2,11,12,19,23,24,27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

International data base of exposure measurements in the pulp, paper and paper product industries

Kauppinen

Teschke

Savela

et al. 1997

International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health

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An international data base of exposure measurements in the pulp, paper and paper product industries was constructed to be used in exposure assessment for epidemiology studies and hazard control. Industrial hygiene and biological monitoring data were collected from countries participating in the multicentric study of the International Agency for Research on Cancer. Each measurement was characterized by country, mill type and number, department, job, agent measured, sampling method, measurement result in the standard unit, duration and date of sampling, assessment of representativeness, measurer, purpose of measurements, and remarks (e.g. on measurement sites and biases). Over 31,000 measurement results on 246 different chemical agents from 13 countries were available from pulp (45% of measurements), paper/paperboard/recycling (12%) and paper product (11%) mills or from their non-production departments (23%). Most measurements (82%) were carried out after 1980. The most frequently measured group of agents was inorganic gases (35%), followed by organic compounds (25%), solvents (18%), mineral dusts (12%), metals (6%) and bioaerosols (3%). Over 90% of the measurements were without an obvious bias, but their true representativeness is difficult to assess. Concentrations of various agents, including sulfur dioxide, chlorine dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, ammonia, formaldehyde and some solvents, often exceeded current occupational exposure limits. This data base summarizes a great deal of previously unpublished exposure data, provides a unique opportunity to study exposure patterns at the international level and identifies exposure situations that require further attention and investigation.

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Exposure to Hydrogen Sulfide, Mercaptans and Sulfur Dioxide in Pulp Industry

Cited by 65 publications

References 0 publications

Exposure to hydrogen sulphide and respiratory function.

Exposure to hydrogen sulphide and respiratory function.

A mortality study of Finnish pulp and paper workers.

International data base of exposure measurements in the pulp, paper and paper product industries

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