Modeling evaporative loss of oil mist collected by sampling filters

Oil mists can cause respiratory distress and have been linked to skin and gastrointestinal cancers in workers. Standard concentration assessment methods call for sampling these mists with fibrous or membrane filters. Previous experimental studies using glass fiber (GF) filters and polyvinyl chloride and polytetrafluoroethylene membrane filters indicate that mist sampled onto filters may volatilize. A model has been developed to predict the evaporation of mist collected on a fibrous sampling filter. Evaporation of retained fluid from membrane filters can be modeled by treating the filter as though it is a fibrous filter. Predictions from the model exhibit good agreement with experimental results. At low mist concentrations, the model indicates that evaporation of retained mineral oil occurs readily. At high mist concentrations, significant evaporation from the filters is not expected because the vapor accompanying the airborne mist is already saturated with the compounds in the oil. The findings from this study indicate that sampling mineral oil mist with filters in accordance with standard methods can lead to estimates of worker exposure to oil mist that are too low.