🌿 Ethylbenzene in workplace air — gas chromatography with sample enrichment, PN-Z-04081-01

Environment PN-79/Z-04081/01

Overview

WHAT THE STANDARD COVERS. The scope from the PKN catalogue card, quoted in full: "The method is used for determining the concentration of ethylbenzene vapour in air at workplaces when carrying out inspection of sanitary and hygienic conditions. In the presence of substances with the same or a similar retention time as ethyl-benzene, masking the chromatogram of the substance determined, a column of different polarity should be used, ensuring separation of ethylbenzene from the accompanying substances." The spellings on the card ("ethyl-benzene" and a grammatical slip in the last phrase) come from the card. The title speaks of sample enrichment, i.e. concentrating ethylbenzene from the air before analysis; on what it is concentrated, the card does not say. Sheet 00 of this standard (PN-Z-04081-00:1979, "General provisions and scope of the standard", 1 page) was withdrawn earlier — on 23-08-2007.

STATUS (state of the card on 28 September 2026). The card carries the heading "Withdrawn" and the row "Date of withdrawal: 07-07-2015". There are no "Superseded by" and "Supersedes" fields. Edition: published 12-12-1979, 3 pages, PKN technical committee KT 159 (Chemical and Dust Hazards in the Working Environment), ICS 13.040.30. The PKN search for "etylobenzen" (ethylbenzene) (29 September 2026) shows 10 standards. Besides sheets 00 and 01 of this standard they are: multi-component standards — for waste gases (PN-Z-04016-7:1999, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes; card without a withdrawal date), for ambient air (PN-Z-04016-03:1989, withdrawn on 13-08-2015) and for the mixture emitted during processing of plasticised PVC at workplaces (PN-Z-04231-02:1993, limit of determination for ethylbenzene 3.0 mg/m³, withdrawn on 15-08-2014); standards on other compounds (diethylbenzene PN-Z-04016-8:1999, tetramethylbenzene PN-Z-04016-9:1999, trimethylbenzene PN-Z-04016-4:1998) and two standards outside air: PN-C-83053:1999 on impurities in ethylbenzene as a product and PN-C-04641-03:1989 on aromatic hydrocarbons in water and wastewater (withdrawn on 14-11-2006). There is no valid PN standard for ethylbenzene in workplace air among them.

THE LIMIT VALUE AGAINST WHICH THE RESULT IS COMPARED. The Polish list of occupational exposure limits (NDS) — annex to the regulation of 12 June 2018 as worded by the regulation of 26 March 2026 (Journal of Laws 2026, item 447), item 238 "Etylobenzen" (ethylbenzene) [100-41-4]: NDS (8-hour value) 200 mg/m³, NDSCh (short-term value) 400 mg/m³, "skin" notation. According to the footnote of the list, the "skin" notation means that "absorption of the substance through the skin may be as important as in exposure by inhalation" (our translation) — measuring the concentration in air does not cover this route. The card does not give the lowest concentration determinable by this method. The NDS list gives only limit values and names no measurement method. The method is the subject of § 16 of the Regulation of the Minister of Health on tests and measurements of agents harmful to health in the working environment (consolidated text — Journal of Laws 2025, item 949): "Tests and measurements shall be performed in accordance with the methods specified in Polish Standards and, where there are no such standards, with methods recommended and validated by the laboratories referred to in § 15(1) and (2)(1)" (our translation). The regulation does not name this standard, and any other regulation citing it WE HAVE NOT ESTABLISHED; whether a standard withdrawn by PKN falls under the words of § 16 "where there are no such standards" — WE DO NOT DECIDE.

HOW MANY LABORATORIES AND IN WHAT FORM (copy of the accreditation scope database, data up to 17 September 2026, read on 28 September 2026). All records of number 04081 with sheet 01: 17 entries at 14 laboratories, but one scope row of AB 886 is split into two entries in the database — in the PCA scope (issue 26 of 12 February 2026) it is one row "Concentration/Content of ethylbenzene", 0.17–1000 mg/m³ and 0.005–30 mg per sample, and in the copy the range in mg/m³ was not preserved; there are therefore 16 scope rows. Forms: "PN-79/Z-04081.01" — 5 laboratories (AB 581, AB 618, AB 622, AB 632, AB 746), "PN-79/Z-04081/01" — 5 (AB 647, AB 882, AB 886, AB 1144, AB 1302), "PN-Z-04081-01:1979" — 4 (AB 340, AB 562, AB 1168 and the second entry of AB 882), and AB 591 writes "PN-79/Z -04081/01" with a space. The "Laboratories" tab searches for records BEGINNING with "PN-79/Z-04081/01" and will show 5 laboratories in 6 entries; it will not show the other nine: AB 340, AB 562, AB 581, AB 591, AB 618, AB 622, AB 632, AB 746 and AB 1168. Current scopes on the PCA website (read on 29 September 2026, issues from 24 November 2025 to 24 September 2026): all rows stand in the valid issues with the same range as in the copy — also at AB 618, whose issue 25 of 24 September 2026 is newer than the copy — and none is suspended; AB 746 has items in its scope (issue 38 of 22 July 2026) suspended at its own request from 17 April 2026 to 16 October 2026, but not this one.

TECHNIQUE AND RANGES. All 14 laboratories record gas chromatography with a flame ionisation detector (GC-FID); AB 882 has a second entry with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MS) and its own procedure. Test object: workplace air, often with a note on samples taken on sorbent tubes, at AB 647 — on activated-carbon tubes. AB 591 has two entries: the mass of ethylbenzene in the sample (0.050–11 mg) according to the standard "excluding clauses 8 and 13", and the concentration in air (5–1111 mg/m³) "calculated" according to clauses 8 and 13. Nine laboratories also give the range as the mass in the sample. Lower limits in mg/m³: from 0.062 (AB 746) and 0.17 (AB 886) to 20 mg/m³ (AB 632), i.e. at most one tenth of the NDS; upper limits from 475 mg/m³ (AB 581) to 8600 mg/m³ (AB 882) — at all of them above the NDSCh.

BESIDES THIS STANDARD. For ethylbenzene in workplace air the scopes also cite the laboratories’ own procedures and four other documents. The method from the quarterly "Podstawy i Metody Oceny Środowiska Pracy" (Principles and Methods of Assessing the Working Environment) 2011, No. 1(67), pp. 35–44 — AB 1207 (GC-MS, 0.17–2700 mg/m³; PCA scope issue 26 of 11 June 2026), AB 1642 (GC-FID, 0.050–1128 mg/m³; issue 23 of 28 July 2026) and AB 1854 (GC-FID, 220–3700 µg per sample; issue 4 of 13 January 2026). The method from the same quarterly of 2007, No. 1(51), pp. 141–147 — AB 565, in a collective entry for organic compounds (GC-FID, 0.01–20 mg per sample, with the concentration of 0.01–880 mg/m³ "calculated"; issue 28 of 3 November 2025). The standard PN-Z-04231-02:1993 (written in the scope as "PN-93/Z-04231/02"; withdrawn on 15-08-2014, see above) — AB 300, together with the document "IN-59 wyd. 3 z dnia 18.12.2025 r." (GC-FID, 0.5–1800 mg/m³ and 0.020–9 mg per sample; issue 36 of 8 September 2026). The method "NIOSH Method 1501 Issue 3 (2003)" — AB 1226, in a single entry together with benzene, toluene and the xylenes (GC-FID, 10–400 mg/m³ and 0.24–9.6 mg per sample; issue 26 of 17 September 2026 — entry suspended at the laboratory’s request from 10 June 2026 to 7 December 2026). We have not checked the titles of the quarterly publications. Apart from these documents, the copy holds for ethylbenzene in workplace air only the laboratories’ own procedures, the general entry "Normy, Procedury badawcze" (Standards, test procedures; AB 934) and one AB 1144 record with the standard PN-Z-04016-5:1998 — in the PCA scope (issue 26 of 8 January 2026) the ethylbenzene row, the last on p. 7/28, cites PN-79/Z-04081/01, while PN-Z-04016-5:1998 stands in the next row, the first on p. 8/28, for ethyltoluene.

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE. We did not have the text of the standard — PKN sells it (3 pages). We do not give the sorbent and the enrichment method, the air volume and flow rate, the desorption, the columns and chromatographic conditions, the calibration curve, the formula or the precision; we do not know what clauses 8 and 13 contain, which AB 591 excludes for the mass in the sample and cites for calculating the concentration.

Method principle

According to the card of the standard: the concentration of ethylbenzene vapour in workplace air is determined by gas chromatography after enrichment of the sample; if the sample contains substances with the same or a similar retention time that mask the ethylbenzene peak, a column of different polarity is used. The result is compared with the NDS of 200 mg/m³ and the NDSCh of 400 mg/m³ (Journal of Laws 2026, item 447, item 238 of the list). We DO NOT GIVE the enrichment method, sampling and chromatographic conditions — we did not have the text of the standard.

Applications

• Measurements of ethylbenzene vapour in workplace air — assessment against NDS 200 mg/m³ and NDSCh 400 mg/m³ (Journal of Laws 2026, item 447, item 238 of the list)
• In accreditation scopes: 14 laboratories, all with gas chromatography with a flame ionisation detector; nine also give the range as the mass of ethylbenzene in the sample

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-Z-04081-01:1979 (wersja polska)

Title (PL)

Ochrona czystości powietrza — Badania zawartości etylobenzenu — Oznaczanie etylobenzenu na stanowiskach pracy metodą chromatografii gazowej z wzbogacaniem próbki

Title (EN)

Air purity protection — Tests for ethylbenzene content — Determination of ethylbenzene at workplaces by gas chromatography with sample enrichment

Step-by-step procedure

1. Status of the document

   PKN card: standard withdrawn on 07-07-2015, no successor indicated (state of the card on 28 September 2026). The PKN search results contain no valid PN standard for ethylbenzene in workplace air.

2. Sampling and sample enrichment

   Ethylbenzene from the air is concentrated before analysis (title of the standard: "with sample enrichment"). Sorbent, flow rate and air volume NOT GIVEN.

3. Chromatographic analysis

   Gas chromatography; when other substances have the same or a similar retention time and mask the ethylbenzene peak, a column of different polarity is used (from the card).

4. Result

   Concentration in mg/m³; in the scopes of nine laboratories also the mass of ethylbenzene in the sample.

5. Assessment

   Comparison with NDS 200 mg/m³ and NDSCh 400 mg/m³. "Skin" notation: the measurement in air does not cover absorption through the skin.

Required equipment and apparatus

Reagents, media and consumables

Health and safety (OHS)

• Ethylbenzene is flammable, and in the NDS list it carries the "skin" notation — in exposure assessment the air measurement alone does not cover absorption through the skin
• TECHNICAL NOTE: a substance with the same retention time as ethylbenzene gives a peak that can be taken for ethylbenzene — the standard then requires separating them on a column of different polarity

Frequently asked questions