Nov 22, 2022

Volatile Organic Compounds

By Marcus Chin

Have you ever smelled gasoline before? The industrial odor is a distinctive smell that everyone close to it will notice. At first, most would find the scent to be acrid, but upon closer examination, some may find the scent to be somewhat pleasant. However, this scent is deceiving. The hydrocarbons found inside gasoline are mostly volatile organic (carbon-based) compounds, or VOCs for short. VOCs have a low vapor pressure, which means many molecules can escape into the surrounding air, allowing them to be inhaled by us. The issue with VOCs is that many of them are toxic, and some are even carcinogenic (cancer-causing).

One of the most infamous VOCs is benzene, which is the chemical that gives gasoline its pleasant scent. Despite its extremely low concentration in gasoline, benzene is what makes people actually like the gassy smell. This is not anything surprising - in the 19th and 20th centuries, benzene was added to aftershave to give it a sweet smell and also used as an organic solvent to decaffeinate coffee (Allen Stewart, P.C., 2018). However, over the last century, benzene has slowly been phased out of virtually all consumer products. Benzene’s disappearance is for good reason though; after years of benzene-exposed workers continuously being diagnosed with leukemia, a link between benzene and leukemia was finally established, and benzene was classified as a human carcinogen.

Even with benzene mostly eradicated from everyday items, other dangerous VOCs continue to plague our society. VOCs like trihalomethanes, many of which are carcinogens, inevitably appear in groundwater as a result of organic waste. Other VOCs like methyl tert-butyl ether have been an issue for decades, sneaking their way into water wells after they started to be used as a replacement for lead as an octane booster in gasoline (Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) | U.S. Geological Survey, 2019). More concerningly, in some cities like Mexico City, benzene levels still remain above the permissible limit of one part per billion (Huertas et al., 2015). The prevalence of these VOCs poses both a health issue to humans as a carcinogen and an environmental issue, polluting the air surrounding industrial sectors.

As society shifts to a greener future, we can only hope that our planet will too, slowly repairing the damage that dirty industrial development has caused. However, what we can do is protect ourselves against the harmful VOCs within our homes. Products such as paint thinners and oil-based paints still contain high levels of toluene, which can cause acute respiratory issues if not handled properly. While alternatives such as citrus-based thinners have been made, their efficacy is proven to be much worse than traditional lacquer thinners and, unfortunately, not viable for large-scale projects. By monitoring the contents of the products we use and keeping rooms well-ventilated, potential exposure risks can be minimized, and we can at least keep ourselves safe against the VOCs that still thrive.

References

Allen Stewart, P.C. (2018, July 10). The History of Benzene Use | Benzene Exposure Lawyer. Allen Stewart PC. https://www.allenstewart.com/practice-areas/benzene-exposure/the-history-of-benzene-use/

Huertas, J. I., Magaña, M., Huertas, M. E., Cárdenas, B., Watanabe, T., Maeda, T., Wakamatsu, S., & Blanco, S. (2015). Volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere of Mexico City. Atmospheric Environment, 119, 415–429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.08.014