Cargando…

Evaluation of an Ozone Chamber as a Routine Method to Decontaminate Firefighters’ PPE

Ozone chambers have emerged as an alternative method to decontaminate firefighters’ Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) from toxic fire residues. This work evaluated the efficiency of using an ozone chamber to clean firefighters’ PPE. This was achieved by studying the degradation of pyrene and 9-met...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lucena, Marcella A. de Melo, Zapata, Félix, Mauricio, Filipe Gabriel M., Ortega-Ojeda, Fernando E., Quintanilla-López, M. Gloria, Weber, Ingrid Távora, Montalvo, Gemma
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8536115/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682332
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010587
_version_ 1784587946446290944
author Lucena, Marcella A. de Melo
Zapata, Félix
Mauricio, Filipe Gabriel M.
Ortega-Ojeda, Fernando E.
Quintanilla-López, M. Gloria
Weber, Ingrid Távora
Montalvo, Gemma
author_facet Lucena, Marcella A. de Melo
Zapata, Félix
Mauricio, Filipe Gabriel M.
Ortega-Ojeda, Fernando E.
Quintanilla-López, M. Gloria
Weber, Ingrid Távora
Montalvo, Gemma
author_sort Lucena, Marcella A. de Melo
collection PubMed
description Ozone chambers have emerged as an alternative method to decontaminate firefighters’ Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) from toxic fire residues. This work evaluated the efficiency of using an ozone chamber to clean firefighters’ PPE. This was achieved by studying the degradation of pyrene and 9-methylanthracene polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The following experiments were performed: (i) insufflating ozone into PAH solutions (homogeneous setup), and (ii) exposing pieces of PPE impregnated with the PAHs to an ozone atmosphere for up to one hour (heterogeneous setup). The ozonolysis products were assessed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Thin-Layer Chromatography (TLC), and Mass Spectrometry (MS) analysis. In the homogeneous experiments, compounds of a higher molecular weight were produced due to the incorporation of oxygen into the PAH structures. Some of these new compounds included 4-oxapyren-5-one (m/z 220) and phenanthrene-4,5-dicarboxaldehyde (m/z 234) from pyrene; or 9-anthracenecarboxaldehyde (m/z 207) and hydroxy-9,10-anthracenedione (m/z 225) from 9-methylanthracene. In the heterogeneous experiments, a lower oxidation was revealed, since no byproducts were detected using FTIR and TLC, but only using MS. However, in both experiments, significant amounts of the original PAHs were still present even after one hour of ozone treatment. Thus, although some partial chemical degradation was observed, the remaining PAH and the new oxygenated-PAH compounds (equally or more toxic than the initial molecules) alerted us of the risks to firefighters’ health when using an ozone chamber as a unique decontamination method. These results do not prove the ozone-advertised efficiency of the ozone chambers for decontaminating (degrading the toxic combustion residues into innocuous compounds) firefighters’ PPE.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8536115
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-85361152021-10-23 Evaluation of an Ozone Chamber as a Routine Method to Decontaminate Firefighters’ PPE Lucena, Marcella A. de Melo Zapata, Félix Mauricio, Filipe Gabriel M. Ortega-Ojeda, Fernando E. Quintanilla-López, M. Gloria Weber, Ingrid Távora Montalvo, Gemma Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Ozone chambers have emerged as an alternative method to decontaminate firefighters’ Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) from toxic fire residues. This work evaluated the efficiency of using an ozone chamber to clean firefighters’ PPE. This was achieved by studying the degradation of pyrene and 9-methylanthracene polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The following experiments were performed: (i) insufflating ozone into PAH solutions (homogeneous setup), and (ii) exposing pieces of PPE impregnated with the PAHs to an ozone atmosphere for up to one hour (heterogeneous setup). The ozonolysis products were assessed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Thin-Layer Chromatography (TLC), and Mass Spectrometry (MS) analysis. In the homogeneous experiments, compounds of a higher molecular weight were produced due to the incorporation of oxygen into the PAH structures. Some of these new compounds included 4-oxapyren-5-one (m/z 220) and phenanthrene-4,5-dicarboxaldehyde (m/z 234) from pyrene; or 9-anthracenecarboxaldehyde (m/z 207) and hydroxy-9,10-anthracenedione (m/z 225) from 9-methylanthracene. In the heterogeneous experiments, a lower oxidation was revealed, since no byproducts were detected using FTIR and TLC, but only using MS. However, in both experiments, significant amounts of the original PAHs were still present even after one hour of ozone treatment. Thus, although some partial chemical degradation was observed, the remaining PAH and the new oxygenated-PAH compounds (equally or more toxic than the initial molecules) alerted us of the risks to firefighters’ health when using an ozone chamber as a unique decontamination method. These results do not prove the ozone-advertised efficiency of the ozone chambers for decontaminating (degrading the toxic combustion residues into innocuous compounds) firefighters’ PPE. MDPI 2021-10-09 /pmc/articles/PMC8536115/ /pubmed/34682332 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010587 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Lucena, Marcella A. de Melo
Zapata, Félix
Mauricio, Filipe Gabriel M.
Ortega-Ojeda, Fernando E.
Quintanilla-López, M. Gloria
Weber, Ingrid Távora
Montalvo, Gemma
Evaluation of an Ozone Chamber as a Routine Method to Decontaminate Firefighters’ PPE
title Evaluation of an Ozone Chamber as a Routine Method to Decontaminate Firefighters’ PPE
title_full Evaluation of an Ozone Chamber as a Routine Method to Decontaminate Firefighters’ PPE
title_fullStr Evaluation of an Ozone Chamber as a Routine Method to Decontaminate Firefighters’ PPE
title_full_unstemmed Evaluation of an Ozone Chamber as a Routine Method to Decontaminate Firefighters’ PPE
title_short Evaluation of an Ozone Chamber as a Routine Method to Decontaminate Firefighters’ PPE
title_sort evaluation of an ozone chamber as a routine method to decontaminate firefighters’ ppe
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8536115/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682332
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010587
work_keys_str_mv AT lucenamarcellaademelo evaluationofanozonechamberasaroutinemethodtodecontaminatefirefightersppe
AT zapatafelix evaluationofanozonechamberasaroutinemethodtodecontaminatefirefightersppe
AT mauriciofilipegabrielm evaluationofanozonechamberasaroutinemethodtodecontaminatefirefightersppe
AT ortegaojedafernandoe evaluationofanozonechamberasaroutinemethodtodecontaminatefirefightersppe
AT quintanillalopezmgloria evaluationofanozonechamberasaroutinemethodtodecontaminatefirefightersppe
AT weberingridtavora evaluationofanozonechamberasaroutinemethodtodecontaminatefirefightersppe
AT montalvogemma evaluationofanozonechamberasaroutinemethodtodecontaminatefirefightersppe