Aircraft cabin air quality
In 2007, the Department for Transport (DfT), on behalf of the Government’s Aviation Health Working Group (AHWG), commissioned Cranfield University to organise, manage and deliver a functionality test of a variety of air sampling devices capable of detecting a wide range of compounds in a cabin air environment. The project was managed by Professor Helen Muir of.Cranfield Institute for Safety, Risk and Reliablity, who at an early stage recruited Dr Chris Walton of the Volatiles Research Group to manage the analytical aspects of the study. The results of this work are available via CERES (http://hdl.handle.net/1826/2389).
The functionality test was the preliminary stage of a major monitoring study of the cabin air environment which will commence shortly.
Tests were carried out on a BAe 146 and the ground and also during flight in a Boeing 757, with the aim of comparing and selecting methods for detecting volatile compounds in cabin air. Methods tested included:
• Solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME)
• Passive (diffusive) thermal desorbtion (TD) tubes
• Pumped TD tubes
• Photoionisation detector (PID)
The PID was found to be a suitable instrument for fume event detection, as well as providing continuous data logging of overall volatile concentrations. SPME and TD methods detected essentially the same suite of compounds, but only pumped TD proved capable of allowing estimation of concentrations.
The major study will therefore feature a PID for early warning of events used in combination with pumped TD tubes which will allow events to be sampled and characterised. Pumped TD will also be used to obtain routine determinations of volatile concentrations in cabin air during various phases of flight.
One of the challenges of this study is that only one scientist can be carried on each flight. We are currently selecting equipment and developing protocols which will allow this individual reliably to collect the widest possible range of data without compromising integrity.
