LCS Laboratory offers an air quality test for isocyanates vapor and mist. We offer an air sampling kit with portable, battery-operated air sampling pumps, sampling cassettes, and cassette holders. When the samples are collected we analyze them in our Industrial Hygiene Laboratory, using the OSHA 42/47 method. We provide you with a formal laboratory report including the concentration of Isocyanates in the work zone.
4’4′-methylene diphenyl diisocyanate
Isocyanate, is a technical term used for a group of organic di-isocyanates. Hundreds of different isocyanates are produced and used by the polymer industry worldwide. The most common diisocyanates are:
- Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI)
- Toluene diisocyanate (TDI)
- Hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI)
- Isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI)
The isocyanate group (-N=C=O) is very reactive, which makes diisocyanates a good catalysts in production of polymers, rubber, and high quality automotive paint.
Diisocyanates are extremely toxic and are often referred to as “sensitizers”. Diisocyanates may cause an allergic reaction, with redness, rash, itching, swelling or blisters at the point of contact or elsewhere on the body. Concentrations of isocyanates in the air cannot exceed 5 ppb (TWA, ONTARIO REGULATION 490/09, 2013).
Gilian Pump with cassette
Diisocyanates can easily be monitored and controlled. The most affordable and widely accepted testing method is the OSHA 47 sampling procedure. You can collect anywhere from 60 to 240 litres of air at 1 L/min. The sample is collected on a glass fiber filter spiked with a derivatizer, which reacts with the isocyanate from the air and turns it into nonvolatile and stable compound. Our laboratory extracts the diisocyanates from the filter and analyzes them using High Performance Liquid Chromatography.
LCS Laboratory will send you all equipment, fully charged, calibrated and ready for sampling.
Before you email us to order your sampling kit, please decide on how many samples you wish to collect. The scope of work depends on the size of production and workload. Typically, our clients collect between 3 and 15 samples of isocyanates. Please email us for a free non-obligatory quote.
