🌿 Vinyl acetate in workplace air — adsorption on activated carbon, extraction with carbon disulfide, gas chromatography, PN-Z-04178-02

Environment PN-87/Z-04178/02

Overview

WHAT THE STANDARD COVERS. The scope from the PKN card, quoted in full: "The test method consists in the adsorption of vinyl acetate vapours on active [a word is missing here], their extraction with carbon disulfide and chromatographic analysis of the solution obtained. The limit of determination of the method is 2.5 mg in 1 cubic metre of air" (our translation of the Polish card; in the card's sentence a word is missing after "vinyl acetate" — the title and the laboratories' descriptions show that activated carbon is meant). The title speaks of gas chromatography "with sample enrichment". The card does not give the type of detector, the air volume, the flow rate, the separation conditions or the calibration procedure. This standard is sheet 02 of the series "Tests for vinyl acetate content". The index of methods published in the quarterly "Podstawy i Metody Oceny Środowiska Pracy" (Principles and Methods of Assessing the Working Environment) in 2000–2015 (CIOP-PIB) has no entry "vinyl acetate"; AB 300 cites for this substance an article from that quarterly (2007, No. 1(51), pp. 141–147), whose content we do not know.

LIMIT VALUES. According to the regulation of the Minister of Family, Labour and Social Policy of 26 March 2026 (Journal of Laws 2026, item 447, annex, item 443), for vinyl acetate [108-05-4] the NDS (8-hour value) is 10 mg/m³ and the NDSCh (short-term value) 30 mg/m³.

STATUS (state of the cards on 29 September 2026). Card of PN-Z-04178-02:1987 (Polish version): header "Wycofana" (withdrawn), published 06-10-1987, "Withdrawal date: 27-11-2012", 3 pages, price group B, Health, Environment and Medicine Sector, PKN technical committee KT 159 (Chemical and Dust Hazards in the Working Environment), ICS 13.040.30; there are no "Supersedes" and "Replaced by" fields. Sheet 01 of the series — PN-Z-04178-01:1987 "General provisions and scope of the standard" (scope from the card: "The subject and thematic scope of the standard were established, including the list of sheets of the standard") — was withdrawn earlier, on 29-11-2007 (KT 280 Air Quality, 1 page). The PKN search for "PN-Z-04178" (29 September 2026) shows only these two sheets, both labelled "Wycofana" (withdrawn); we did NOT ESTABLISH a successor.

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 sheet 04178-02: 17 records of the copy at 12 laboratories (at AB 886 two records are one row of the PCA document). Forms: "PN-87/Z-04178/02" — 7 laboratories (AB 581, AB 647, AB 875, AB 882, AB 886, AB 1144, AB 1207), "PN-Z-04178-02:1987" — 4 (AB 562, AB 882, AB 940, AB 1168), "PN-87/Z-04178.02" — AB 522, "PN-87-Z-04178/02" — AB 1642. An in-house procedure next to the standard — AB 522 (PB-17-27, issue 7 of 20.06.2022), AB 562 (PB_42, edition 5 of 16.08.2022), AB 882 (PB-01, issue 5 of 12.01.2026, and PB-10, issue 1 of 31.08.2022), AB 886 (PB-02, issue No. 12 of 16.10.2023) and AB 1207 (PB-06A, issue 7); exclusions: "z wył. pkt.8" (excluding clause 8; AB 940), "z wyłączeniem pkt. 5.4" (excluding clause 5.4; AB 522, with the procedure). The "Laboratories" tab searches for records BEGINNING with "PN-87/Z-04178/02" and will show 7 laboratories — checked with the tab query on the labcoda.pl production server on 29 September 2026: 7; it will not show the five that write the number differently: under "PN-Z-04178-02" there are 4 laboratories (AB 562, AB 940, AB 1168 and AB 882, which also has the form with slashes), under "PN-87/Z-04178.02" — AB 522, under "PN-87-Z-04178/02" — AB 1642. Current scopes on the PCA website (read on 29 September 2026, issues from 24 November 2025 to 17 September 2026): all entries stand in the valid issues and every pair of range limits from the copy appears in the current document; both entries of AB 522 are SUSPENDED — issue No. 26 of 18 August 2026 marks them in bold italics with the footnote "Accreditation suspended at the request of the body in the part of the scope marked in bold italics from 18.08.2026 to 14.02.2027" (our translation; checked on the image of page 5).

TEST ITEM, TECHNIQUE AND RANGES. Workplace air — all 12 laboratories; waste gases sampled on sorbent tubes — also AB 940 and AB 1168; ambient and indoor air — AB 1207. Technique: gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector (GC-FID) — 11 laboratories; with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) — AB 1207 and the second entry of AB 882 (with procedure PB-10). Concentration ranges: lower limits from 0.10 mg/m³ (AB 1642), 0.19 (AB 886), 0.21 (AB 940), 0.300 (AB 1144) and 0.33 (AB 1207) to 1.39 (AB 1168) and 5 mg/m³ (AB 562); upper limits from 60 mg/m³ (AB 647) and 80 (AB 875) to 544 (AB 882, GC-MS), 1000 (AB 886), 1127.61 (AB 522) and 4000 mg/m³ (AB 562); we read the concentration range of AB 886 from the current PCA document (issue No. 26 of 12.02.2026) — the database copy holds only the mass in the sample for this entry. A lower limit below the limit of determination of 2.5 mg/m³ from the card — at 11 of the 12 laboratories (all except AB 562); including those that do not cite an in-house procedure (AB 581, AB 647, AB 875, AB 940, AB 1144, AB 1168, AB 1642). Mass in the sample — e.g. (0.0057 – 30) mg (AB 886), (10-20297) μg (AB 522).

ALONGSIDE THIS STANDARD. Vinyl acetate in workplace air without this standard is determined by 8 laboratories, under in-house procedures or publications: AB 300 (article in PiMOŚP 2007, No. 1(51), pp. 141–147, with instruction IN-59), AB 481 (TSO/PB-08), AB 647 (PB-14 — next to the entry with this standard), AB 719 (PA-14), AB 802 (PB-06/09), AB 849 (PB-29, (0.643 – 2480) mg/m³), AB 934 ("Normy, Procedury badawcze" — standards, test procedures; flexible scope) and AB 1854 (PN-Z-04231-02:1993 with instruction IR-23). In waste gases vinyl acetate is determined under PN-EN 13649:2005 — 10 laboratories, including 4 of these twelve (AB 886, AB 940, AB 1144, AB 1642) — and in the flexible scope of AB 934 ("Normy, Procedury badawcze"); in "general environment" air samples taken on sorbent tubes — AB 877 (the same entry with PN-EN 13649:2005, PN-Z-04008-4:1999 and PB-08), in ambient air — AB 912 (PB-05, (0.00260 – 125) mg/m³); in indoor air — 4 laboratories under in-house procedures, 2 of them from these twelve: AB 481 (TSO/PB-08, (52 – 10 000) µg/m³), AB 562 (PB_42, (4 – 2000) µg/m³), AB 591 (PB.07.SAS, (0.003 – 0.069) mg in the sample) and AB 1642 (EV-PB-13 with EV-PB-14, (2.0 – 4000) µg/m³); in food contact materials — under CEN/TS 13130-9:2005 (AB 079). The same scopes contain the sheets PN-Z-04119-10 (2-methoxy-1-methylethyl acetate — at 7 of these 12 laboratories) and PN-Z-04449 (butan-2-one — at 5), described in separate Knowledge Base entries.

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE. We did not have the text of the standard — PKN sells it (3 pages). We do not give the air volume and flow rate, the type of tube, the volume of carbon disulfide, the column, the detector and the separation conditions, the calibration, the formula or the content of clause 8, which AB 940 excludes.

Method principle

According to the PKN card, vinyl acetate vapours from workplace air are adsorbed on activated carbon (sample enrichment), extracted with carbon disulfide and the solution obtained is analysed by gas chromatography; limit of determination of the method — 2.5 mg/m³. Sampling and separation conditions are NOT GIVEN — we did not have the text of the standard.

Applications

• Vinyl acetate in workplace air — exposure measurements in the scopes of 12 laboratories (NDS 10 mg/m³, NDSCh 30 mg/m³)
• Waste gases sampled on sorbent tubes (AB 940, AB 1168), ambient and indoor air (AB 1207)

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-Z-04178-02:1987 (wersja polska)

Title (PL)

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

Title (EN)

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

Step-by-step procedure

1. Status of the document

   PKN card: sheet 02 withdrawn on 27-11-2012, sheet 01 (general provisions) — on 29-11-2007; no successor indicated (state of the cards on 29 September 2026).

2. Sampling

   Air drawn through an activated carbon tube (enrichment); volume and flow rate NOT GIVEN.

3. Extraction

   Vinyl acetate is eluted from the activated carbon with carbon disulfide (PKN card).

4. Analysis

   Gas chromatography of the solution; the card gives neither the column nor the detector — in the accreditation scopes laboratories state FID or MS; limit of determination of the method 2.5 mg/m³ (card).

5. Result

   Vinyl acetate concentration in mg/m³ for comparison with the NDS of 10 mg/m³ and the NDSCh of 30 mg/m³; formula NOT GIVEN.

Required equipment and apparatus

Reagents, media and consumables

Health and safety (OHS)

• Carbon disulfide is extremely flammable and toxic — work in a fume hood, with no ignition sources; vinyl acetate is highly flammable
• SUBSTANTIVE NOTE: the limit of determination on the card (2.5 mg/m³) is higher than the lower range limits of most laboratories — when asking for the test, ask for the limit of quantification and the document under which the laboratory determined it

Frequently asked questions