Desorption of a Methamphetamine Surrogate from Wallboard under Remediation Conditions
Abstract
Thousands of homes in the United States are found to be contaminated with methamphetamine each year. Buildings used to produce illicit methamphetamine are typically remediated by removing soft furnishings and stained materials, cleaning and sometimes encapsulating surfaces using paint. Methamphetamine that has penetrated into paint films, wood and other permanent materials can be slowly released back into the building air over time, exposing future occupants and re-contaminating furnishings. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of two wallboard remediation techniques for homes contaminated with methamphetamine: 1) enhancing desorption by elevating temperature and relative humidity while ventilating the interior space, and 2) painting over affected wallboard to seal the methamphetamine in place. The emission of a methamphetamine surrogate, N-isopropylbenzylamine (NIBA), from pre-dosed wallboard chambers over 20 days at 32°C and two values of relative humidity were studied. Emission rates from wallboard after 15 days at 32°C ranged from 35 to 1400μgh-1m-2. Less than 22% of the NIBA was removed from the chambers over three weeks. Results indicate that elevating temperatures during remediation and latex painting of impacted wallboard will not significantly reduce freebase methamphetamine emissions from wallboard. Raising the relative humidity from 27% to 49% increased the emission rates by a factor of 1.4. A steady-state model of a typical home using the emission rates from this study and typical residential building parameters and conditions shows that adult inhalation reference doses for methamphetamine will be reached when approximately 1g of methamphetamine is present in the wallboard of a house.
Recommended Citation
D. Poppendieck et al., "Desorption of a Methamphetamine Surrogate from Wallboard under Remediation Conditions," Atmospheric Environment, vol. 106, pp. 477 - 484, Elsevier, Apr 2015.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.09.073
Department(s)
Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering
Keywords and Phrases
Desorption; Methamphetamine; Remediation; Wallboard
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
1873-2844; 1352-2310
Document Type
Article - Journal
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2024 Elsevier, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
01 Apr 2015
Comments
National Institute of Standards and Technology, Grant 60NANB9D9207