Size-distribution-based assessment of human inhalation and dermal exposure to airborne parent, oxygenated and chlorinated PAHs during a regional heavy haze episode

Zhiguo Cao; Mengmeng Wang; Shiyu Shi; Youhua Zhao; Xi Chen; Chao Li; Yunzi Li; Haizhu Wang; Linlin Bao; Xinyi Cui

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114661

Size-distribution-based assessment of human inhalation and dermal exposure to airborne parent, oxygenated and chlorinated PAHs during a regional heavy haze episode

Environ Pollut. 2020 Aug;263(Pt A):114661. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114661. Epub 2020 Apr 24.

Authors

Zhiguo Cao¹, Mengmeng Wang¹, Shiyu Shi¹, Youhua Zhao¹, Xi Chen¹, Chao Li², Yunzi Li², Haizhu Wang³, Linlin Bao¹, Xinyi Cui⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Environment, Henan Key Laboratory for Environmental Pollution Control, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environmental Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan, 453007, PR China.
² State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, PR China.
³ State Key Lab of High Power Semiconductor Laser of Changchun University Science and Technology, Changchun University Science and Technology, Changchun, 130022, PR China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, PR China. Electronic address: lizzycui@nju.edu.cn.

PMID: 33618469
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114661

Abstract

The adverse health effects of haze and particle-bound contaminants in China have recently caused increasing concern, and particle size plays a significant role in affecting human exposure to haze-correlated pollutants. To this background, size-segregated particulate samples (nine size fractions (<0.4, 0.4-0.7, 0.7-1.1, 1.1-2.1, 2.1-3.3, 3.3-4.7, 4.7-5.8, 5.8-9.0 and > 9.0 μm) were collected in three scale-gradient cities in northern China and analysed for a series of parent, oxygenated and chlorinated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, O-PAHs and Cl-PAHs). The total geometric mean concentrations of PAHs and O-PAHs for Beijing, Zhengzhou and Xinxiang were 98.1 and 27.2, 77.9 and 77.5, 41.0 and 30.7 ng m^-3, respectively, which were 50-200 times higher than those for Cl-PAHs (0.5, 0.7 and 0.4 ng m^-3). Though unimodal size-distribution patterns were found for all these contaminants for these three cities, PAHs represented distinctly higher concentration levels around the peak fraction (0.7-2.1 μm) than O-PAHs and Cl-PAHs. With 4-6 ring PAHs as dominant components in all samples, the percentage proportion of 2-3 ring PAHs (ranging from 1% to 26%) generally increased with particle size increasing, implying the sources of these compounds varied little among the 9 size fractions in all three cities. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) model and permeability coefficient method were synchronously applied to the size-segregated data for inhalation and dermal exposure assessment to intensively estimate the human exposure doses to airborne PAHs. Further, the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) was calculated and it's found that ILCR from inhalation was higher than that from dermal uptake for children and adults in Beijing and Zhengzhou, while the ILCR for Xinxiang presented a contrary pattern, revealing dermal uptake to be an equally significant exposure pathway to airborne PAHs compared to inhalation.

Keywords: Health risk; Heavy haze; PAHs; Particle size distribution.

MeSH terms

Adult
Air Pollutants* / analysis
Beijing
Child
China
Cities
Environmental Monitoring
Humans
Inhalation Exposure / analysis
Particulate Matter / analysis
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons* / analysis
Risk Assessment

Substances

Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons