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Last Update: 01/31/00

Volatile Organics Present In Recycled Air Aboard a Commercial Airliner

INTRODUCTION

There has been much publicity as of late on the health effects of biological contaminants and the transmission of viral infections on board commercial airliners due to ineffective air replacement and inadequate filtering. None of these studies however made any attempt at the identification of volatile organic compounds (VOC's) that are also present in this same confined space. Health risks due to Sick buildings have been documented and have caused concern in government and industry due to both time lost by sick employees and the costs involved with remediation. Analytical techniques are needed to identify and quantitate VOC's in airplane cabins to protect both airline employees and the flying public.

For this study, air samples were collected at one hour intervals on flights originating in Newark NJ, London England, Edinburgh Scotland, and Munich Germany. Three different types of aircraft were sampled in coach, business and first class cabins. All samples were collected by trapping on an adsorbent resin and analyzed by thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

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