| Title: | "Health risk assessment from exposure to ambient VOCs and particulate matter in different functional zones in Dhanbad, India" |
| Author(s): | Malik N; Elumalai SP; Kumar K; |
| Address: | "Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad 826004, India. Electronic address: nidhimalik8@gmail.com. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad 826004, India. Electronic address: espandian@iitism.ac.in. School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110017, India. Electronic address: krishan_kumar@mail.jnu.ac.in" |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164573 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1879-1026 (Electronic) 0048-9697 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "This study evaluates the non-cancer risks (NCR) and cancer risks (CR) in outdoor working personnel in Dhanbad city, exposed to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter (PM) present in the ambient air. Dhanbad is known for its coal mines and is one of the most polluted cities in India and the world. Sampling was conducted in different functional zones; namely, traffic intersections, industrial, and institutional areas, to estimate the concentration of different PM-bound heavy metals and VOCs in the ambient air using Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and gas chromatography (GC) respectively. Our results show that the concentration levels (of VOCs and PM) and health risks were maximum at the traffic intersection area, followed by the industrial and institutional areas. The major contribution to CR came from chloroform, naphthalene, and PM-bound chromium, while the contribution to NCR mainly came from naphthalene, trichloroethylene, xylenes, and PM-bound chromium, nickel, and cadmium. It was observed that CR and NCR from VOCs are quite comparable (average CR(voc) 8.92E-05 and NCR(voc) 6.82) to that from the PM-bound heavy metals (average CR(PM) 9.93E-05 and NCR(PM) 3.52). According to the sensitivity analysis performed using Monte-Carlo Simulation, it was also found that the output risk is most significantly influenced by the pollutant concentration followed by exposure duration and exposure time. The study reveals that Dhanbad city is not only a critically polluted area but also a highly hazardous and cancer-prone area due to the pollution arising from incessant coal mining activities and heavy vehicular movement. Given the paucity of data on exposure to VOCs in ambient air and their risk assessment pertaining to coal mining cities of India, our study provides useful information and insight for the regulatory and enforcing authorities to devise appropriate strategies for air pollution and health risk management in such cities" |
| Keywords: | "Particulate Matter/analysis *Air Pollutants/analysis *Volatile Organic Compounds/analysis Environmental Monitoring/methods Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Risk Assessment *Metals, Heavy/analysis Naphthalenes/analysis India Chromium/analysis Cancer ri;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineMalik, Nidhi Elumalai, Suresh Pandian Kumar, Krishan eng Netherlands 2023/06/06 Sci Total Environ. 2023 Sep 15; 891:164573. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164573. Epub 2023 Jun 3" |
