Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY
Volume 25, Issue 4, Pages 339-349Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1002/tox.20504
Keywords
VOCs; indoor-outdoor ratio; urban and industrial burdens; indoor sources; risk assessment
Categories
Funding
- International Bureau of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
- Ministry of Science and Technology of Argentina (MINCyT)
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which play an important part indoors and outdoors, comprise differing compound groups such as n-alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatic and chlorinated hydrocarbons and terpenes. In the current study, samples were analyzed from indoor (schools and houses, n = 92) and outdoor (n = 33) air in urban, industrial, semirural and residential areas from the region of La Plata (Argentine) to consider VOC exposure in different types of environments. VOCs were sampled for 1 month during winter for 3 years, with passive 3M monitors. Samples were extracted with CS2 and analyzed by GC/MS detectors. The results show significant differences in concentration and distribution between indoor and outdoor samples, depending on the study area. Most VOCs predominantly originated indoors in urban, semirural and residential areas, whereas an important outdoor influence in the industrial area was observed. In all areas alkanes and aromatic compounds dominated, even though a different chemical distribution was seen. Traffic burden was determined as the major source of outdoor VOC with a benzene/toluene ratio close to 0.5. Indoors, C9-C11 alkanes, toluene and xylenes dominated, caused by human activities. In contrast, in the industrial area higher concentrations of hexane, heptane and benzene occurred outdoors and affected the indoor air significantly. The lifetime cancer risk (LCR) associated to the benzene exposure was calculated for children from the different study areas. For all groups the study showed a LCR value greater than 1 x 10(-6) related to the benzene exposure indoors as well outdoors. A value two magnitudes higher was detected indoors in the industrial area, what demonstrates the high risk for children living in this area of La Plata. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 25: 339-349, 2010.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available