Air concentrations of volatile organic acids in confined animal buildings–determination with ion chromatography

In this study, the air concentration of organic acids were determined in samples collected from eight different animal buildings differing in building design, housing system and animals species. The samples were enriched with membrane enrichment technique and analyzed with ion-exclusion chromatography. Lactic, formic, acetic, propionic, iso-butyric, butyric, iso-valeric and valeric acids were found. The number of individual acids varied among the buildings. The highest total amounts of acids was found in an insulated swine building in which all of the analyzed acids were detected. The found concentrations of organic acids can not be considered as harmful to human health. However, together with other air pollutants organic acids creates an environment that is unhealthy.