Performances of a Bitumen Fume and Condensate Generation System for Sampling Method Development

Abstract

A laboratory system was designed to generate bitumen fumes and expose tested samplers in a homogenised chamber. The system was also designed to condense the fumes in the form of oil that could be used as a standard for further analytical method development. The laboratory system was evaluated in terms of stability, repeatability, aging, and ranges, focusing on the quality and quantity of the fumes and their physical characteristics. The fumes generated with the laboratory system were also compared to fumes emitted at workplaces to evaluate their similarity. The results demonstrated that laboratory fume generation was stable and repeatable. Humidity ranged from 20% to 80% RH and the total fume concentration ranged from 0.01 to 9.36 mg.m -3 , covering the conditions encountered for road paving worksites. The fumes generated in the laboratory were found to be similar to those of workplaces, with slight differences in light compounds equivalent to C12 and below n-alkanes. Thus, the system designed in this study is considered capable of generating bitumen fumes used to develop sampling and analysis methods.