Is toluene a thermal hazard?
The thermal hazards of toluene are lower than those related to other dangerous substances. However, adequate safety measures, such as periodic inspections, must be taken for the early and timely identification of the hazards.
What is toluene classified as in chemistry?
Toluene is the simplest member of the class toluenes consisting of a benzene core which bears a single methyl substituent. It has a role as a non-polar solvent, a cholinergic antagonist, a neurotoxin and a fuel additive. It is a methylbenzene, a volatile organic compound and a member of toluenes.
What are the hazards of toluene in a lab?
Exposure at high levels could cause cardiac dysrhythmia and unconsciousness.;The substance defats the skin, which may cause dryness or cracking. The substance may have effects on the central nervous system. Exposure to the substance may increase noise-induced hearing loss.
What is the risk and safety of toluene?
Health Hazards of Toluene
Symptoms of toluene exposure include: irritation of the eyes and nose; weakness, exhaustion, confusion, euphoria, dizziness, headache; dilated pupils, lacrimation (discharge of tears); anxiety, muscle fatigue, insomnia; numbness or tingling of the skin; dermatitis.
Is toluene highly flammable?
ICSC 0078 - TOLUENE. Highly flammable. Vapour/air mixtures are explosive.
How toxic is toluene?
What immediate health effects can result from toluene exposure? Breathing toluene vapors in small amounts may cause a mild headache, dizziness, drowsiness, or nausea. With more serious exposure, toluene may cause sleepiness, stumbling, irregular heartbeat, fainting, or even death.
Is toluene a Class 2 solvent?
Residual Solvent Class 2 - Toluene (1.2 mL/ampule; 3 ampules)
What is toluene Class 10?
Toluene is an aromatic hydrocarbon derivative of methyl-substituted benzene, which exists as a transparent, colourless volatile liquid and has a pungent, benzene-like odour. Toluene is insoluble in water but may be miscible with other organic solvents.
Is toluene illegal?
(b) Except for lawful research, clinical, medical, dental, veterinary, industrial or manufacturing purposes, no person shall possess toluene, also known as tuleol, methylbenzene, phenylmethane or methacide, in a portable container unless the container is constructed of metal, has a tight closure, and is fitted with a ...
Why is toluene banned?
Neurotoxicity is a critical human health concern following acute, intermediate, or chronic toluene exposure. Developmental toxicity. Toluene exposure is linked to adverse effects in developing fetuses and has the potential to cause birth defects.
What are the environmental hazards of toluene?
Environmental effects
Toluene evaporates when exposed to air. It also evaporates from water. In the air it quickly is reacted into other chemicals, in the water and soil bacteria break it down. It has moderate acute (short-term) toxicity on aquatic life.
Is toluene safer than benzene?
Toluene has largely replaced the more-toxic benzene as a solvent. Benzene is an established carcinogen, but the carcinogenicity of toluene is as yet undetermined.
Is toluene a safe solvent?
Repeatedly breathing toluene from glue or paint thinners may permanently damage the brain. Exposure to high levels of toluene during pregnancy, such as those associated with solvent abuse, may lead to developmental effects, such as reduced mental abilities and growth in children.
Why is toluene carcinogenic?
Can toluene cause cancer? Studies in workers and animals exposed to toluene generally show that toluene does not cause cancer.
Is toluene a drug?
Being a misused drug, toluene has reinforcing effects.
How explosive is toluene?
Toluene is a flammable liquid with a flash point of 4.4° C. Toluene and products containing it can form an explosive mixture with air at room temperature.
How to safely work with toluene?
What Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is needed when working with toluene? Eye/Face Protection: Wear chemical safety goggles and face shield when contact is possible. Skin Protection: Wear chemical protective clothing e.g. gloves, aprons, boots.
What is the explosive limit of toluene?
The flammable range of toluene in nitrous oxide at 1 bara and 70 °C is found to extend from 0.25 to 22.5 mol% and is about three times as wide as the flammable range of toluene in air (1.3–7.1 mol%).
Does toluene evaporate easily?
Toluene evaporates easily. This chemical can be detected in air, water, and soil. Where is toluene found and how is it used? used to make paints, paint thinner, perfume, fingernail polish, lacquers, adhesives, and other chemical products.
What are Class 1 Class 2 and Class 3 solvents?
Class 1 solvents, containing five compounds, should be avoided in manufacturing processes. Class 2 solvents contain 30 compounds, and should be limited. Class 3 solvents, containing 27 compounds, are considered lower risk. In total, there are more than 60 compounds in the three classes.
What are Class 3 solvents?
Solvents in Class 3 (Table 3) may be regarded as less toxic and of lower risk to human health. Class 3 includes no solvent known as a human health hazard at levels normally accepted in pharmaceuticals. However, there are no long-term toxicity or carcinogenicity studies for many of the solvents in Class 3.
What is a Class 2 solvent?
Class 2 Residual Solvents: Solvents to be Limited Nongenotoxic animal carcinogens or possible causative agents of other irreversible toxicity, such as neurotoxicity or teratoge- nicity. Solvents suspected of other significant but rever- sible toxicities.
Is toluene a carcinogen?
Studies in workers and animals exposed to toluene generally indicate that toluene is not carcinogenic (cancer-causing). The International Agency for Research on Cancer determined that toluene is not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity in humans (Group 3).
Is toluene a benzene?
It is a mono-substituted benzene derivative, consisting of a methyl group (CH3) attached to a phenyl group by a single bond. As such, its systematic IUPAC name is methylbenzene. Toluene is predominantly used as an industrial feedstock and a solvent.
Is toluene a cigarette?
Benzene, toluene, and 1,3-butadiene were found in the range of 6-73, 5-88, and 16-75Ilg/cigarette, respectively.
Is toluene banned in the EU?
Toluene is banned in glue and spray paint at concentrations above 0.1 % in products for the general public according to Directive 76/769/EEC on certain dangerous substances and preparations (Directive 2005/59/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2005 amending for the 28th time Council ...
Is toluene banned in the UK?
Firstly Toluene is allowed to be used and supplied in the UK (and across the EU), it is the supply to the general public that is restricted, professional operators can purchase and use products containing it.
Is toluene regulated?
The reportable quantity for toluene is 1,000 pounds (454 kg) (EPA 2013g). Because of its potential to cause adverse health effects in exposed people, toluene is also regulated by the drinking water standards set by the EPA.
What is another name for toluene?
Also called methylbenzene, phenylmethane.
How is toluene abused?
The pulmonary route of toluene absorption is primarily via sniffing, huffing, and bagging or by spraying inhalants directly into the nose or mouth. These terms were derived from the mode of abuse and refers to the following: Sniffing refers to snorting fumes from containers through the nose.
What is a safer alternative to toluene?
TMO is an ether solvent that effectively replaces most hydrocarbon solvents, namely toluene. TMO is becoming an increasingly popular option for those searching for a substitute for toluene due to its highly desirable properties as a solvent: Non-polar. Low boiling point.
Which is more toxic toluene or xylene?
The air levels considered immediately dangerous to life or health (IDLH, NIOSH) are 500 ppm for toluene and 900 ppm for xylene. Death has been reported after exposure to toluene at 1, 800–2,000 ppm for 1 hour.
What are the rules for toluene?
Legally Enforceable Limits
General Industry: 29 CFR 1910.1000 Table Z-2 - 200 ppm TWA; Also, exposures shall not exceed 300 ppm (ceiling) with the following exception: exposures may exceed 300 ppm, but not more than 500 ppm (peak), for a single time period up to 10 minutes for any 8-hour shift.
What is the most toxic solvent?
Amongst the most hazardous solvents are benzene, carbon disulphide and carbon tetrachloride. Solvents are excreted in urine and sweat or they may be exhaled. Good work practices and training can help to reduce hazardous exposures.
Why is toluene less toxic than benzene?
The benzylic carbon hydrogen bonds of toluene are relatively weak (85 kcal/mol) versus the aryl C-H bonds (110 kcal/mol). Toluene is relatively easily oxidized by P-450 enzymes in the liver to give benzoic acid, which is reasonably soluble in water and can be excreted readily.
Is toluene toxic to bacteria?
TOLUENE, like many organic sovents, is highly biotoxic and kills most microorganisms at low concentrations (0.1% v/v).
Can toluene cause leukemia?
Our results support the association between benzene, xylene, and toluene and chronic lymphatic leukemia and between benzene and MM with longer latencies than have been observed for AML in other studies.
Is toluene a mutagen?
Toluene was considered not to be mutagenic as it did not increase pre- or post implantation embryo loss. A number of studies have examined occupational settings where toluene has been in use, and reported changes in certain genotoxicity parameters.
Is toluene a neurotoxin?
In recent decades the organic solvent toluene (methylbenzene) has emerged as one of the best-studied neurotoxins. Long-term and intense exposure to toluene vapors in humans who abuse spray paint and related substances has led to the recognition that toluene has a severe impact on central nervous system myelin.
Is toluene hallucinogenic?
Rationale: Toluene is a misused inhalant with hallucinogenic properties and complex effects. Toluene blocks N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, releases dopamine (DA), and modifies several neurotransmitter levels; nonetheless, the mechanism by which it produces hallucinations is not well characterized.
Is toluene highly flammable?
ICSC 0078 - TOLUENE. Highly flammable. Vapour/air mixtures are explosive.
What class of solvent is toluene?
Residual Solvent Class 2 - Toluene.
Is toluene faster than benzene?
Also, as noted earlier, toluene undergoes nitration about 25 times faster than benzene, but chlorination of toluene is over 500 times faster than that of benzene. From this we may conclude that the nitration reagent is more reactive and less selective than the halogenation reagents.
How toxic is toluene?
What immediate health effects can result from toluene exposure? Breathing toluene vapors in small amounts may cause a mild headache, dizziness, drowsiness, or nausea. With more serious exposure, toluene may cause sleepiness, stumbling, irregular heartbeat, fainting, or even death.
How long does it take toluene to evaporate?
Toluene evaporates rapidly from water with an experimentally determined half-life of 2.9 to 5.7 hr for evaporation from 1 m of water with moderate mixing conditions. In a mesocosm experiment with simulated conditions for Narragansett Bay, RI, the loss was primarily by evaporation in winter with a half-life of 13 days.
How does toluene make you feel?
As a recreational drug, toluene is most often inhaled nasally (glue sniffing, huffing), and produces acute neurological effects such as euphoria followed by depression [5, 20]. However, almost all organs suffer some form of alteration [20].
At what temperature is toluene flammable?
Flash Point: 5°C (41°F) CC. LEL 1.1%. Autoignition Temp.: 480°C (896°F).
What PPE is needed for toluene?
A respirator can be worn for additional protection against inhalation of this substance. Toluene should also be stored in a well-ventilated area designated for flammable liquids. The location needs to be dry, and the material housed in a clean, covered container.
What PPE is required for toluene?
What Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is needed when working with toluene? Eye/Face Protection: Wear chemical safety goggles and face shield when contact is possible. Skin Protection: Wear chemical protective clothing e.g. gloves, aprons, boots.
Why is toluene a bad solvent?
Repeatedly breathing toluene from glue or paint thinners may permanently damage the brain. Exposure to high levels of toluene during pregnancy, such as those associated with solvent abuse, may lead to developmental effects, such as reduced mental abilities and growth in children.
How do you remove toluene?
Treatment options are available to remove toluene from well water. The most commonly used is granular activated carbon filtration. Options include central treatment (at the well or at entry to home) or a point-of-use device (kitchen sink filter).
Is toluene a forever chemical?
Toluene does not usually stay in the environment long. In surface water or soil, it will readily evaporate into the air or be degraded by bacteria. In the air, toluene rapidly breaks down by reacting with other chemicals or oxygen in the air. Below the surface, microorganisms will break down toluene.
What is considered a thermal hazard?
Is benzene a Class 1 solvent?
What happens when toluene is heated?
What is solvent class 5?
What is the thermal stability of toluene?
What are the hazardous solvents?
Can we heat toluene?
Thermal hazards are hazards that can alter your body temperature in a harmful way. The hazard here is that temperatures rise during sterilization; the room gets hot. Staying in this room for extended periods of time could lead to hyperthermia which is an elevated body temperature.