Development of a simulation chamber for the evaluation of dermalabsorption of volatile organic compounds

Özet

An exposition chamber has been designed and developed for the production of contaminated atmospheres withfixed and known concentration of volatile organic compounds. The proposed chamber has been evaluated for thedetermination ofin-vitrodiffusion parameters, such asflux and lag time for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, andxylenes (BTEX). Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and Strat-M®membranes were evaluated, including the effect ofmembrane thickness, from 0.5 to 3.0 mm, on the diffusion parameters. The obtainedflux values and lag times,ranged from 0.2 to 1.5μgcm−2h−1and from 10 to 130 min, respectively, for studies performed at a BTEXconcentration of 51μgL−1in air. Different air concentration of BTEX were evaluated in the calibration chamber,indicating thatflux increased proportionally to the BTEX concentration in air and the lag time decreased as theair concentration of BTEX increased.