Walk-through survey at Airco Carbon, St. Mary's, Pennsylvania

Technical Report · Tue Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:6757153

Greife, A

An on-site visit was made to Airco Carbon, a producer of carbon products, to gather data concerning the feasibility of using this facility in an industry-wide industrial-hygiene and epidemiology study of the carbon-products industry. Two different product lines were manufactured at this facility: specialty graphite products, and graphite electrodes. Raw materials for both lines included petroleum coke, coal tar pitch, and petroleum pitch. Airborne samples were shown to contain 17 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) compounds; all of these compounds were listed as tumorigenic and several were positive animal carcinogens. Overall levels of the compounds were low. The areas of the facility involved in formulation and baking appeared to have the highest overall concentrations. Ventilation appeared to be effective in reducing these levels. The author concludes that this particular facility is not suitable for inclusion in the larger project because it is impossible to identify a population of workers with an exposure of adequate duration to only petroleum pitch.

• Research Organization: National Inst. for Occupational Safety and Health, Cincinnati, OH (USA). Div. of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluation and Field Studies
• OSTI ID: 6757153
• Report Number(s): PB-88-236914/XAB; IWS-142.11
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
010900* -- Coal
Lignite
& Peat-- Environmental Aspects
02 PETROLEUM
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Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
552000 -- Public Health
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
AIR POLLUTION
AROMATICS
CARCINOGENS
COAL TAR
COKE
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
HYDROCARBONS
INDOOR AIR POLLUTION
INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE
INSPECTION
MATERIALS
MEDICINE
OCCUPATIONAL EXPOSURE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OTHER ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
PITCHES
POLLUTION
POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
TAR
TOXICITY
VENTILATION