| Title: | "Source apportionment of human personal exposure to volatile organic compounds in homes, offices and outdoors by chemical mass balance and genetic algorithm receptor models" |
| Author(s): | Gokhale S; Kohajda T; Schlink U; |
| Address: | "Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, India. sharadbg@iitg.ernet.in" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.08.025 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 0048-9697 (Print) 0048-9697 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "A number of past studies have shown the prevalence of a considerable amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in workplace, home and outdoor microenvironments. The quantification of an individual's personal exposure to VOCs in each of these microenvironments is an essential task to recognize the health risks. In this paper, such a study of source apportionment of the human exposure to VOCs in homes, offices, and outdoors has been presented. Air samples, analysed for 25 organic compounds and sampled during one week in homes, offices, outdoors and close to persons, at seven locations in the city of Leipzig, have been utilized to recognize the concentration pattern of VOCs using the chemical mass balance (CMB) receptor model. In result, the largest contribution of VOCs to the personal exposure is from homes in the range of 42 to 73%, followed by outdoors, 18 to 34%, and the offices, 2 to 38% with the corresponding concentration ranges of 35 to 80 microg m(- 3), 10 to 45 microg m(- 3) and 1 to 30 microg m(- 3) respectively. The species such as benzene, dodecane, decane, methyl-cyclopentane, triethyltoluene and trichloroethylene dominate outdoors; methyl-cyclohexane, triethyltoluene, nonane, octane, tetraethyltoluene, undecane are highest in the offices; while, from the terpenoid group like 3-carane, limonene, a-pinene, b-pinene and the aromatics toluene and styrene most influence the homes. A genetic algorithm (GA) model has also been applied to carry out the source apportionment. Its results are comparable with that of CMB" |
| Keywords: | "Adult Aged *Air Pollutants/analysis/chemistry/toxicity *Air Pollution, Indoor/adverse effects/analysis Algorithms Female Housing/standards Humans *Inhalation Exposure/adverse effects/analysis Male Middle Aged *Models, Chemical *Models, Genetic *Organic Ch;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineGokhale, Sharad Kohajda, Tibor Schlink, Uwe eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Netherlands 2008/09/30 Sci Total Environ. 2008 Dec 15; 407(1):122-38. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2008.08.025. Epub 2008 Sep 25" |
