Evaluation of real-time techniques to measure hydrogen peroxide in air at the permissible exposure limit

The major occupational concern from bio-decontamination of equipment using vapor phase hydrogen peroxide (VHP) generation systems is potential operator exposure outside the protective barrier from possible VHP leaks or accidental releases from the sealed piece of equipment during decontamination. For this reason, different real time monitoring techniques were evaluated to determine their ability to accurately measure VHP at concentrations ranging from 0.5 ppm to 5 ppm. The results of this laboratory evaluation suggest that two of the four methods evaluated (the ion mobility spectrometer [IMS] and Polytron) will approximate the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health +/- 25% accuracy requirements for measuring the concentration of VHP at and near the Occupational Safety and Health Administration permissible exposure limit of 1.0 ppm. Over the range of 0.5 ppm to 5.1 ppm VHP, the IMS had an approximate pooled method accuracy of +/- 21%, while the Polytron had a pooled method accuracy of +/- 22%. However, both instruments had false readings when exposed to nominal concentrations of methanol, bleach, and sulfur dioxide. The two additional VHP monitoring techniques evaluated (the single point monitor [SPM] and Draeger tube) were unable to accurately measure the concentration of VHP when the relative humidity was below 20%.