Atmospheric occurrence and health risks of PCDD/Fs, polychlorinated biphenyls, and polychlorinated naphthalenes by air inhalation in metallurgical plants

Lili Yang; Guorui Liu; Minghui Zheng; Rong Jin; Qingqing Zhu; Yuyang Zhao; Xian Zhang; Yang Xu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.12.071

Atmospheric occurrence and health risks of PCDD/Fs, polychlorinated biphenyls, and polychlorinated naphthalenes by air inhalation in metallurgical plants

Sci Total Environ. 2017 Feb 15:580:1146-1154. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.12.071. Epub 2016 Dec 16.

Authors

Lili Yang¹, Guorui Liu², Minghui Zheng¹, Rong Jin¹, Qingqing Zhu¹, Yuyang Zhao¹, Xian Zhang¹, Yang Xu¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: grliu@rcees.ac.cn.

PMID: 27989480
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.12.071

Abstract

Metallurgical plants are important sources of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs). It is significant to evaluate the air levels and human risks of PCDD/Fs, PCBs and PCNs in metallurgical plants considering their adverse effects on human health and thousands of metallurgical plants being in operation in China. The estimated inhalation intakes of PCDD/Fs, PCBs, and PCNs together in eight iron ore sintering plants, three secondary copper plants, four secondary aluminum plants, and one secondary lead plant were 4.9-213.4, 21.4-4026.4, 28.7-630, and 11.7fgTEQkg^-1day^-1, respectively, and the corresponding cancer risks were estimated to be 8.7×10^-7 to 3.8×10^-5, 5.1×10^-6 to 1.1×10^-4, 3.8×10^-6 to 7.1×10^-4, and 2.1×10^-6, respectively. The estimated cancer risk were higher than 100 per million people for three secondary aluminum and copper smelters among the sixteen metallurgical plants, indicating high cancer risks. Stack gas samples from metallurgical plants were also collected and analyzed for comparing their emission profiles with that of air samples. The comparison of PCDD/F, PCB and PCN profiles between air samples and stack gas samples by similarity calculation and principal component analysis suggested the influence of stack gas emissions from metallurgical plants on surrounding air. These results are helpful for understanding the exposure risk to PCDD/Fs, PCBs and PCNs in numerous metallurgical plants being operation in China.

Keywords: Inhalation risk; Metallurgical sources; Persistent organic pollutants; Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs); Polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs).