Composition profiles and health risk of PCDD/F in outdoor air and fly ash from municipal solid waste incineration and adjacent villages in East China

Sci Total Environ. 2016 Nov 15:571:876-82. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.07.069. Epub 2016 Jul 16.

Abstract

In present study, composition profiles and health risk of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) in outdoor air and fly ash from domestic waste treatment center (DWTC) were studied. In addition, the composition profiles and health risk of PCDD/F in outdoor air from adjacent villages were researched and used to quantitatively analyze the difference between onsite workers and adjacent villagers. Moreover, the difference between old intake method and new inhalation dosimetry method in the process of assessing the health risk of PCDD/Fs in outdoor air was quantitatively compared and analyzed. The results of this study were summarized as follows. (1) The 95th percentile carcinogenic risk (CR) and non-carcinogenic risk (non-CR) for onsite workers and adjacent villagers were much lower than the threshold values of 10(-6) and 1.0, respectively, suggesting no potential health risk. (2) The 95th percentile CR for onsite workers was 1.27×10(-8) and was 64.8 times higher than that of adjacent villagers (1.99×10(-10)). (3) The 95th percentile non-CR for onsite workers and adjacent villagers were 1.37×10(-4) and 1.31×10(-7), respectively. (3) Accidental ingestion of fly ash was the largest contributor to CR and non-CR for onsite workers, contributing 62.98% and 64.04% to CR and non-CR, respectively. (4) The CR and non-CR of PCDD/Fs in outdoor air for onsite workers and adjacent villagers which calculated by old intake method was much higher than the results from new inhalation dosimetry method. The results quantitatively showed the levels and potential risks of PCDD/Fs posed by a DWTC site, which can be helpful to predict the influence from DWTC sites and promote the management of DWTC in China.

Keywords: Adjacent villagers; Fly ash; Health risk; Onsite workers; Outdoor air; PCDD/Fs.

MeSH terms

  • Air Pollutants / analysis*
  • Air Pollutants / toxicity
  • China
  • Coal Ash / analysis*
  • Coal Ash / toxicity
  • Dibenzofurans, Polychlorinated / analysis*
  • Dibenzofurans, Polychlorinated / toxicity
  • Environment*
  • Environmental Monitoring
  • Humans
  • Incineration
  • Occupational Exposure / analysis*
  • Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins / analysis*
  • Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins / toxicity
  • Risk Assessment
  • Rural Population
  • Solid Waste / analysis

Substances

  • Air Pollutants
  • Coal Ash
  • Dibenzofurans, Polychlorinated
  • Polychlorinated Dibenzodioxins
  • Solid Waste