Microbial volatile organic compounds measured in the air of a waste sorting plant and a university by thermal desorption-gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

In recyclable waste management facilities, several contaminants, mainly bioaerosols and microorganisms, can be released and cause potential adverse health effects. Given that microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOCs) are metabolites developed by molds and since they can be considered as potential biomarkers of mold exposure, their concentrations in ambient air were monitored at a recyclable waste sorting plant (WSP) and a university campus (UC) serving as control environment for comparison. A recently developed analytical method was used for the detection of 21 selected mVOCs in real conditions. The impact of mVOC sampling duration, period of the day, and variability of their concentrations between different workstations at both sites was studied. At UC, only 3 mVOCs were detected in comparison with 13 mVOCs at the WSP. The sampling duration of 2 h was chosen to increase the sensitivity of the method. Statistical tests showed no significant difference in concentration for the detected mVOCs at WSP for different period of the day whereas an increase in concentrations for ethyl acetate was observed at UC. At WSP, the highest concentrations were measured at the pre-sorting room (ex. 4.04 ng/m³ for pentan-2-one), followed by the sorting room (ex. 3.46 ng/m³ for decanal), the optic sorting room (ex. 3.67 ng/m³ for pentan-2-one), and the lowest concentrations were measured at the waste reception area (ex. 0.51 ng/m³ for cyclopentanone). This study allows the optimization of the mVOC sampling method, the comparison of the mVOC profiles between contaminated and non-contaminated workplaces and the recommendation for mVOCs with better potential as biomarkers of mold exposure.