Precautions for ammonia

Ammonia has corrosive and irritating effects on skin tissues in contact, can absorb water in skin tissues, denature tissue proteins, saponify tissue fat, and destroy cell membrane structure. The solubility of ammonia is very high, so it mainly stimulates and corrodes the upper respiratory tract of animals or human beings, and is often adsorbed on the skin mucosa and conjunctiva, resulting in irritation and inflammation. It can paralyze respiratory tract cilia and damage mucosal epithelial tissue, make pathogenic microorganisms easy to invade, and weaken the human body's resistance to diseases. Ammonia is usually inhaled into the human body in the form of gas. After being inhaled into the lungs, ammonia can easily enter the blood through the alveoli, combine with hemoglobin, and destroy the oxygen transport function. A small amount of ammonia entering the pulmonary alveoli is neutralized by carbon dioxide, and the rest is absorbed into the blood. A small amount of ammonia can be expelled with sweat, urine or respiration.

In a short time, after inhaling a large amount of ammonia, there may be tears, sore throat, hoarseness, cough, blood stained sputum, chest tightness, dyspnea, dizziness, headache, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, etc. In severe cases, pulmonary edema, adult respiratory distress syndrome, and respiratory tract irritation symptoms may occur. If too much ammonia is inhaled, resulting in too high ammonia concentration in the blood, it will cause cardiac arrest and respiratory arrest through the reflex of trigeminal nerve endings, endangering life.

After long-term exposure to ammonia, some people may have skin pigmentation or finger ulcers.

Ammonia in indoor air mainly comes from concrete additives used in construction. The additive contains a large amount of substances in ammonia, which will be reduced into ammonia gas and released with the change of temperature, humidity and other environmental factors in the wall.