Characterization and health risk assessment of VOCs in occupational environments in Buenos Aires, Argentina

J.E.COLMAN LERNER; E.Y.SANCHEZ; J. SAMBETH; A. PORTA

ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2013 vol. 46 p. 440 - 447

1352-2310

To detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor air in small enterprises in La Plata city and surrounding areas, sampling was conducted using passive diffusion monitors (3M-3500) and  analysis of the samples were performed by  CG-FID. Analytic methodology was optimized for 23 VOCs (n-alkanes, cycloalkanes, aromatic and chlorinated compounds, ketones and terpenes compounds) by determining the recovery factor and detection limit for each analyte. Different recovery values were obtained by desorbing with a mixture of dichloromethane: methanol (50:50), with a standard deviation lower than 5%. Enterprise analyzed included chemical analysis laboratories, sewing workrooms, electromechanical repair and car painting centers, take away food shops, and a photocopy center. The highest levels of VOCs were found to be in electromechanical repair and car painting centers (hexane, BTEX, CHCl3, CCl4) followed by chemical analysis laboratories and sewing workrooms. Cancer and noncancer risks were assessed using conventional approaches (HQ and LCR, US EPA) using the benzene, trichloroethylene, chloroform for cancer risk, and toluene, xylene and n-hexane, for noncancer risks as markers. The results showed different LCR for benzene and trichloroethylene between the different indoor environments analyzed (electromechanical repair and car painting center >> others) and chloroform (laboratory > others), but comparing with the results obtained by other research, are in similar order of magnitude for equivalents activities.  Similar finding were founded for HQ.