Nitrosamine measurements in ambient air of an industrial area in Austria

The area of Linz (Oberösterreich) is the most heavily polluted region in Austria, due to its chemical and steel industry. In 1981, a survey of volatile nitrosamines in ambient air performed by a local laboratory revealed levels of up to 5.45 micrograms/m3. This instigated the setting up of a systematic nitrosamine monitoring programme from February 1983 to May 1984, during which the validity of the analytical procedures was determined. A total of 363 air samples was collected over 200 days at 16 different locations in and around Linz. About 6% of the samples showed low nitrosamine contamination, with levels between 0.01 and 0.04 microgram/m3 of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), and N-nitrosomorpholine (NMOR). The lower limit of detection was 0.005 microgram/m3. It was not possible to confirm these low concentrations by high-resolution mass spectrometry. In some samples, thermal energy analyser-responsive material was observed, which may be due to the occurrence of C-nitro compounds.