Exposure to Harmful Volatile Compounds: How High Temperatures Affect the Interior and the Health of Passengers

The cars we travel with during our working days or as a means of transport for our holidays or for our hobbies, are a set of chemicals which, as such, are subjected to different reactions based on the external stresses that affect them.

Temperatures, especially those hot, are a trigger that can cause an increase in volatiles inside the car interiors, volatiles that can be perceived in the form of odors, or completely neutral to the nasal perception, but which can bring with them volatile elements that could be harmful to health, causing long-term physical problems.

But what are the birds that disperse inside the car interiors?

The compounds harmful to health present in cars:

• Acetaldehyde

• Acrolein

• Benzene

• Toluene

• Ethylbenzene

• Styrene

• O-m-p-xylene

These substances that come from the composition of plastic structures, or its coatings, which make up the whole machine, such as dashboards, seats, accessories, panels, ventilation parts, engine parts which, under the effect of temperature changes, can release harmful volatile substances.

But how can you control the concentration of these elements to understand, in an analytical way, if they can damage health?

This analysis of the air quality can be done using a small instrument such as the ion mobility gas chromatograph which, through the aspiration of the birds inside the passenger compartment , allows in a simple and rapid way, the chemical evaluation of the volatiles dispersed in the air.

This small machine takes about 15 minutes to identify chemical concentrates at a level equal to 5 ppb and gives us a picture of the quality of the air we breathe in the car .

What is in short, the goal:

• Simultaneous quantification of the above gaseous emissions

• Use of a simple and fast device for air sampling in cars

• Three-dimensional vision of the chemical components detected

• Automation of the suction and control system

• Short cycle time

• Certain analytical values

Considering that in the spectrum of volatile substances that may be present in a car, some of them are not perceived as odors by humans and, therefore, we do not notice their presence. The qualification of chemical compounds can help us to understand if, traveling inside the passenger compartment exposed to the inhalation of these elements, for a certain time, they can cause damage to our health.

Automatic translation. We apologize for any inaccuracies. Original article in Italian.