Special Report No. 81-02: Continued Laboratory Examination of the Use of Commercial Detector Tubes for the Measurement of Methyl Mercaptan in Kraft Pulp Mill Workspace Atmospheres

One element of the National Council's Paper Industry Occupational Health Study Methodology Project is the examination of measurement methods for use in the workspace atmosphere. Four Special Reports, 80-06, 80-07, 80-10 and 80-11, had already been issued. These dealt respectively, with laboratory examination of (a) the use of commercial detector tubes for measurement of methyl mercaptan, (b) the ASTM/APHA spectrophotometric measurement of mercaptan (c) the use of commercial detector tubes for hydrogen sulfide measurement and (d) the use of selective scrubbers for separating sulfur gases prior to measurement. The study entailed a more extensive investigation of commercially available methyl mercaptan detector tubes, and extended the exposure conditions to include (a) higher levels of mercaptan (b) the presence of moisture and (c) the coexistence of sulfur dioxide.