Foundry Coke is a product of the foundry

The increased lung cancer risk among foundry workers is supposed to be associated with the gaseous inhalation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and bound particles (PAHs). These compounds are prepared from the pyrolysis of carbon-containing filling material into the molding sand. Concentrations of 20 PAHs, some of which are carcinogens, were determined in the dusty casting zone of an iron foundry by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Total dust was fractionated by means of a precision cascade. It was possible to distinguish exposure in micrograms / mg dust PAHs into seven size fractions of the upper particle or equal 0.36- 24.95 microns. At first it was an increase of PAH adsorbed mass concentration of particle diameter to increase to a maximum of 1.1 micrograms / mg in the dust of the 1.57-micron fraction. After that, there was a continuous reduction in PAH mass concentrations with increasing particle size. If the different weights of the seven political groups are taken into account, however, the total PAHs increased loading of individual fractions regularly with increasing particle size. The inhalable particulate material, 31.4% of the total dust, containing 49.9% of the total adsorbed PAH. The gas is on average three times more carcinogenic PAH, adsorbed with four and five rings as dust. The share of gaseous substances is equivalent to 77% of the total PAH exposure in the workplace in an iron foundry.