1-Hydroxypyrene in Human Urines as Biomarker of Exposure to PAH in Work Related Processes in an Aluminum Production Plant

Abstract

In an aluminum production plant using the prebaked anode technology, the levels of exposures to PAH in rebuilding of cathode clearly demonstrate the influence of pitch paste temperature and of joint surfaces. Pollution is the highest when hot paste and big joint technique is adopted and the lowest with warm paste and small joint (8.8 μmol vs 1.2 μmol OHP / mol creatinine, respectively). The same trends were observed with both atmospheric and biological indicators but not on a quantitative relationship basis. The use of OHP enables discrimination of subtle changes in variants of technical process although biological exposure limit needs to be verified for the various types of activities in this technology of aluminum production before it can be generally adopted.

Key words::

• polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
• biological monitoring
• occupational exposure
• relining process
• 1-hydroxypyrene
• aluminum production