Quantitative characterization of resident' exposure to typical semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) around a non-ferrous metal smelting plant

Mengmeng Wang; Yiyi Li; Yinyi Lv; Jian Tang; Pengkun Wei; Ping Lu; Leicheng Zhao; Guiying Li; Zhiguo Cao; Taicheng An

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.133353

Quantitative characterization of resident' exposure to typical semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) around a non-ferrous metal smelting plant

J Hazard Mater. 2024 Mar 5:465:133353. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.133353. Epub 2023 Dec 25.

Authors

Mengmeng Wang¹, Yiyi Li¹, Yinyi Lv², Jian Tang³, Pengkun Wei², Ping Lu¹, Leicheng Zhao², Guiying Li³, Zhiguo Cao⁴, Taicheng An⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Environment, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China; Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory for Contaminants Exposure and Health, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Catalysis and Health Risk Control, Institute of Environmental Health and Pollution Control, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Catalysis and Pollution Control, Key Laboratory for City Cluster Environmental Safety and Green Development of the Ministry of Education, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
² School of Environment, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China.
³ Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory for Contaminants Exposure and Health, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Catalysis and Health Risk Control, Institute of Environmental Health and Pollution Control, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Catalysis and Pollution Control, Key Laboratory for City Cluster Environmental Safety and Green Development of the Ministry of Education, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China.
⁴ School of Environment, Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, Ministry of Education, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China. Electronic address: wq11ab@163.com.
⁵ Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory for Contaminants Exposure and Health, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Environmental Catalysis and Health Risk Control, Institute of Environmental Health and Pollution Control, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China; Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Environmental Catalysis and Pollution Control, Key Laboratory for City Cluster Environmental Safety and Green Development of the Ministry of Education, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China. Electronic address: antc99@gdut.edu.cn.

PMID: 38154186
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.133353

Abstract

To comprehensively characterize residents' exposure to major semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), samples of indoor floor wipes, size-segregated airborne particles, gaseous air, food, and paired skin wipes were simultaneously collected from residential areas around a large non-ferrous metal smelting plant as compared with the control areas, and three typical SVOCs (including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and halogenated PAHs (HPAHs)) were determined. Comparison and correlation analysis among matrices indicated PAHs were the major contaminants emitted from metal smelting activities compared to HPAHs and PCBs, with naphthalene verified as the most important characteristic compound, and their accumulation on skin may be a comprehensive consequence of contact with floor dust and air. While patterns of human exposure pathways for the SVOCs were found to be clearly correlated to their vapor pressure, dermal absorption was the major contributor (51.1-76.3%) to total carcinogenic risk (TCR) of PAHs and HPAHs for surrounding residents, especially for low molecular weight PAHs, but dietary ingestion (98.6%) was the dominant exposure pathway to PCBs. The TCR of PAHs exceeded the acceptable level (1 × 10^-4), implying smelting activities obviously elevated the health risk. This study will serve developing pertinent exposure and health risk prevention measures.

Keywords: Exposure pathways; Health risk; Non-ferrous metal smelting; Semi-volatile organic compounds.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollution, Indoor* / analysis
Carcinogens / analysis
Environmental Monitoring
Humans
Polychlorinated Biphenyls* / analysis
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons* / analysis
Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / analysis
Volatile Organic Compounds* / analysis

Substances

Volatile Organic Compounds
Polychlorinated Biphenyls
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Carcinogens
Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell
Air Pollutants