Evaluation of the Fate of the Active Ingredients of Insecticide Sprays, Used Indoors

Two commercially available insecticide sprays were separately tested in a full-scale environmental chamber (30m3). After the spraying, the distribution of the active ingredients (propoxur, piperonyl butoxide and pyrethrin insecticides) was monitored over 40 minutes, under different ventilation rates (i.e no ventilation and 0.5 air changes per hour - ach-). The sampling of these chemicals was performed by two absorbents, namely TENAX TA and XAD-2. A volume of ~ 10 l of air was passed through the cartridges. The results showed that, in most cases, the two adsorbents gave similar results, although concentrations obtained by XAD-2 were, constantly, slightly higher. The biggest discrepancies were observed in sampling for propoxur (i.e 1.01 g/m3 for TENAX TA against 1.22 g/m3 for XAD-2), but in general it can be concluded that both adsorbents should be considered to be reliable for the sampling of this kind of active ingredients used in insecticides indoors. The air concentrations of propoxur and piperonyl butoxide decreased significantly after the spraying application (after 40 min), probably due to deposition on the walls. The applied ventilation rates did not influence the residence time and concentration of these chemicals in the environmental chamber; similar air concentration levels were measured at the experiments undertaken with and without ventilation. Removal rates for propoxur varied between 91% (no ventilation) and 94% (with 0.5 ach) and for piperonyl butoxide between 90% (no ventilation) and 93% (with 0.5 ach). The pyrethrins followed a slightly different behaviour. Their air concentrations remain constant after the initial five minutes. Similarly to the other compounds, ventilation had a minor role on the removal of this active ingredient, which varied between 74% (no ventilation) and 80% (with 0.5 ach).

LEVA Paolo;  KATSOGIANNIS Athanasios;  BARRERO Josefa;  KEPHALOPOULOS Stylianos;  KOTZIAS Dimitrios; 

2007-10-02

University of Thessaly

JRC37588

https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC37588,