🌿 Tetrachloroethene (tetrachloroethylene) in workplace air — gas chromatography without sample enrichment and with enrichment using carbon disulfide; standard withdrawn in 2015, NDS 85 mg/m³, PN-Z-04118-01

Environment PN-Z-04118-01

Overview

WHAT THE STANDARD COVERS. Scope from the PKN card, in full (our translation): "The subject of the standard is the determination of tetrachloroethylene in workplace air by the following methods: a) gas chromatography without sample enrichment, b) gas chromatography with sample enrichment. The methods are used to determine the concentration of tetrachloroethylene vapours in workplace air when checking sanitary and hygienic conditions. These methods should not be used in the presence of substances with the same or a similar retention time as tetrachloroethylene that mask the chromatogram of the substance being determined." The title adds that the enrichment uses carbon disulfide. "Czterochloroetylen" (tetrachloroethylene) is the old name of tetrachloroethene [127-18-4]; the NDS list gives it under the current name (item 512). The card does not give the sorbent, the air volume, the detector, the column or the determinability. We did not have the text of the standard (4 pages).

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 512), for tetrachloroethene [127-18-4] the NDS is 85 mg/m³ (12.3 ppm) and the NDSCh 170 mg/m³ (24.6 ppm); the list gives the "skin" notation for it.

STATUS (state of the cards on 30 September 2026). The card of PN-Z-04118-01:1978 (Polish version) has the header "Withdrawn": published 08-12-1978, "Withdrawal date: 10-09-2015", 4 pages, price group B, Health, Environment and Medicine Sector, KT 159 for Chemical and Dust Hazards in the Working Environment, ICS 13.040.30; a national standard, without "Introduces" and "Replaced by" fields. The PKN search for "PN-Z-04118" (30 September 2026) shows three sheets of the series, all withdrawn: 00:1978 (general provisions and scope — withdrawal date 23-08-2007), 01:1978 and 02:1983 ("…with sample enrichment using cumene"; according to the card — for determining the concentration of tetrachloroethylene vapours in workplace air when checking sanitary and hygienic conditions; withdrawal date 10-09-2015 — the same as for sheet 01). The PKN search for "czterochloroetylenu" (30 September 2026) shows six items and none of them is a current standard for determining this substance at workplaces: three sheets of this series, the withdrawn PN-Z-04237:1994 (dichloromethane, 1,2-dichloroethane, trichloroethylene and tetrachloroethylene in ambient air), the withdrawn PN-Z-02021:1998 (filters of respiratory protective equipment) and PN-EN ISO 105-D01:2010 (textiles — colour fastness to dry cleaning); the search for "tetrachloroetenu" gives no results. Tetrachloroethene was also covered by PN-Z-04325:2006 (chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons with passive sampling), but its card gives "Withdrawal date: 17-10-2022".

HOW MANY LABORATORIES AND IN WHAT FORM (copy of the accreditation-scope database, data loaded up to 17 September 2026, read on 30 September 2026). All notations of number 04118-01: 13 records at 11 laboratories, i.e. 12 entries — the copy splits one entry of AB 886 into two records, and AB 591 has two entries (mass in the sample "excluding points 2.2.7 and 2.2.12" and concentration calculated according to "points 2.2.7 and 2.2.12"); in the current PCA documents the number appears 12 times. Notations: "PN-Z-04118-01:1978" — AB 340, AB 583 and AB 869, "PN-Z-04118-01-1978 point 2.2.7" with instruction PA-31 issue 7 of 24.01.2025 — AB 719, "PN-78/Z-04118.01" — AB 622, AB 632 and AB 746, "PN-78/Z-04118/01" — AB 581 and AB 886 (with procedure PB-02 issue 12 of 16.10.2023), "PN-78/Z -04118/01" and "PN-78/ Z -04118/01" — AB 591, "PN-78-Z-04118-01" — AB 1642. The "Laboratories" tab looks for notations that BEGIN with "PN-Z-04118-01" (the PKN catalogue form, the most frequent single form in the scopes) and will show 4 of the 11 laboratories (AB 340, AB 583, AB 719, AB 869) — checked with the tab's query on the production server labcoda.pl on 30 September 2026: 4; under "PN-78/Z-04118.01" there are 3, under "PN-78/Z-04118/01" — 2. Current scopes on the PCA website (read on 30 September 2026, issues from 26.11.2025 to 18.08.2026): all entries are in the issues in force, each of the 22 pairs of range figures from the copy appears in the current document and no entry is suspended.

MATRIX, TECHNIQUE AND RANGES. Workplace air — all 11 laboratories. Technique: GC-FID — 11 laboratories. Concentration ranges in mg/m³ are given by 8 laboratories: lower limits from 0.062 mg/m³ (AB 746) and 0.10 mg/m³ (AB 1642) through 1.03 mg/m³ (AB 340) and 1.7 mg/m³ (AB 583) to 5.5 mg/m³ (AB 591) and 8.5 mg/m³ (AB 632), i.e. up to 1/10 of the NDS; upper limits from 340 mg/m³ (AB 632, AB 746) to 1640 mg/m³ (AB 340). AB 886 gives the range in ppm, (0.03 – 145) ppm, and AB 719 and AB 869 only the mass in the sample. Seven laboratories give ppm as well as mg/m³ (AB 340, AB 581, AB 583, AB 591, AB 632, AB 746, AB 1642).

ALONGSIDE THIS STANDARD. Tetrachloroethene in workplace air without this sheet is determined by 24 laboratories: according to the withdrawn sheet 02:1983 (with cumene; notation "PN-83/Z-04118/02" or "PN-Z-04118-02:1983") — 7: AB 562 (with procedure PB_42, (5 – 4000) mg/m³), AB 647, AB 875, AB 882 (two entries: GC-FID with procedure PB-01 and method OSHA 1001:1999, and GC-MS with PB-10), AB 1144, AB 1207 (GC-MS, with PB-06A, from 0.33 mg/m³) and AB 1302; according to PN-Z-04325:2006 with procedure PB-17-27 — AB 522 (the same standard also stands there for trichloroethene; according to its card it is a method with passive sampling of the vapours of 14 chlorinated aliphatic hydrocarbons, including tetrachloroethene, onto activated carbon, desorption with carbon disulfide and gas chromatography, determinability from 0.1 to 3 mg/m³, WITHDRAWN on 17-10-2022); according to the method from the journal "Medycyna Pracy" 2023, 74 (1), pp. 53–62 with instruction IN-59 — AB 300 ((0.6 – 579) mg/m³); according to in-house procedures — 14 laboratories (AB 481, AB 484, AB 487, AB 489, AB 802, AB 849, AB 869, AB 940, AB 1024, AB 1037, AB 1065, AB 1169, AB 1183, AB 1257; for most of them in one entry together with other solvents, at AB 1065 and AB 1183 — GC-MS); in a flexible scope — AB 934. Both entries of AB 522 are SUSPENDED from 18.08.2026 to 14.02.2027 (bold italics and a footnote in the current PCA document, read on 30 September 2026); the other rows are not suspended. Sheet 01 and sheet 02 never stand together in one entry.

WHERE A SEEMINGLY CORRECT RESULT IS EASY TO GET. First — which variant: the standard has two variants (without enrichment and with enrichment using carbon disulfide), and the scopes do not say which one the laboratory uses, although the lowest determinable concentration depends on it; AB 591 and AB 719 cite specific points (2.2.7, 2.2.12) whose content we do not know. Second — co-eluting substances: the card excludes the method in the presence of substances with the same or a similar retention time; with a flame ionisation detector the retention time alone does not confirm identity — with solvent mixtures it is worth asking about confirmation. Third — sheet 01 versus 02: the concentration of tetrachloroethene also appears in the scopes according to the withdrawn sheet 02 (with cumene) — a different variant of the method, while the notation is similar (PN-83/Z-04118/02). Fourth — units: the NDS is given in mg/m³ and in ppm (85 mg/m³ = 12.3 ppm), and the laboratories give ranges in both — compare in one of them. Fifth — the "skin" notation: a measurement in air does not cover absorption through the skin.

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE. We did not have the text of the standard — PKN sells it (4 pages). We do not give the sampling without and with enrichment, the sorbent, the volume of carbon disulfide, the column and separation conditions, the detector, the calibration, the determinability, the formula or the precision, nor the content of points 2.2.7 and 2.2.12.

Method principle

According to the PKN card, tetrachloroethene vapours in workplace air are determined by gas chromatography in one of two variants: without sample enrichment or with enrichment using carbon disulfide; the method is not used when a substance with the same or a similar retention time is present in the air. We DO NOT GIVE the details of sampling and separation — we did not have the text of the standard.

Applications

• Tetrachloroethene in workplace air — in the scopes of 11 laboratories (NDS 85 mg/m³ = 12.3 ppm, NDSCh 170 mg/m³, "skin" notation)

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-Z-04118-01:1978 (wersja polska; norma wycofana)

Title (PL)

Ochrona czystości powietrza — Badania zawartości czterochloroetylenu — Oznaczanie czterochloroetylenu na stanowiskach pracy metodą chromatografii gazowej bez wzbogacania próbki i z wzbogacaniem przy użyciu dwusiarczku węgla

Title (EN)

Air purity protection — Tests for tetrachloroethylene content — Determination of tetrachloroethylene at workplaces by gas chromatography without sample enrichment and with enrichment using carbon disulphide

Step-by-step procedure

1. Status of the document

   PKN card: PN-Z-04118-01:1978 withdrawn on 10-09-2015, no successor on the card (state of the card on 30 September 2026).

2. Choice of variant

   Without sample enrichment or with enrichment using carbon disulfide; we DO NOT GIVE the conditions that decide the choice.

3. Sampling and sample preparation

   We DO NOT GIVE them — the card describes neither the sampling nor the volume.

4. Analysis

   Gas chromatography; not to be used with substances of the same or a similar retention time; in the scopes — GC-FID.

5. Result

   Concentration in mg/m³ (or ppm) for comparison with the NDS of 85 mg/m³ and the NDSCh of 170 mg/m³; we DO NOT GIVE the formula.

Required equipment and apparatus

Reagents, media and consumables

Health and safety (OHS)

• Carbon disulfide is extremely flammable and toxic, and tetrachloroethene has the "skin" notation in the NDS list — preparation of solutions under an efficient fume hood, wearing gloves, away from ignition sources
• TECHNICAL NOTE: the standard has been withdrawn since 2015 and has two variants — check in the report which one (or which in-house procedure) was used

Frequently asked questions