Department of Civil Engineering, Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Division, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India.
Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India.
J Air Waste Manag Assoc. 2019 Dec;69(12):1438-1451. doi: 10.1080/10962247.2019.1668874. Epub 2019 Nov 11.
Indoor dust is one of the key sources contributing to indoor air pollution (IAP) in rural households. It acts as a media for various toxicants like heavy metal depositions and causes severe health risks. The present study deals with investigation of metal concentrations and morphological characteristics of indoor dust generated in varied fuel types followed by estimation of health risks for women and children in rural households in Telangana, India. Indoor floor dust samples were collected from households using biomass and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as their cooking energy during winter to evaluate the morphological and chemical characteristics in the aforementioned dust samples. A morphological (SEM-EDX) analysis revealed the presence of carbonaceous particles in biomass-based households and mineral-rich crustal sources in LPG-based households. As observed from ICP-OES analysis, there is a significant difference in mean concentrations of Al, Co, Cr, Fe, Zn, and Ni based on fuel type, except for Mn and Pb. From Pearson's correlation analysis and principal component analysis, it was observed that the biomass households were dominated by Zn, Al, Mn, Cr, and Pb, which could have been contributed from biomass burning deposits, crustal sources, and unpaved roads, while Cr, Pb, Fe, and Mn dominated in LPG households, indicating their origin from leaded paints (Pb and Cr) and crustal sources. The health risks associated with these heavy metals to women and children were investigated using an EPA health risk model. The values from the model indicated that both non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks were within the safe levels for both subjects. This study not only establishes chemical and morphological characteristics of indoor dust, but also quantifies the role of fuel type.: The present study provides the latest geographical evidence of chemical and morphological characterization of indoor dust particles in varied fuels; i.e, biomass- and LPG-based households and associated health risk assessment in a sub-tropical rural site in Telangana, India. Nevertheless, further research is essential from various regions across the country for more heavy metal analysis and factors impacting these levels. One of the major limitations of the present study is the analysis of few metals and measurements in only living area locations. Future studies can include soil and road dust, as well as kitchens and bedrooms, to provide more comprehensive analysis of dust compositions in varied environments.
室内灰尘是导致农村家庭室内空气污染（IAP）的主要来源之一。它是重金属沉积等各种有毒物质的传播媒介，会对健康造成严重威胁。本研究旨在调查不同燃料类型产生的室内灰尘中的金属浓度和形态特征，然后评估印度特伦甘纳邦农村家庭中妇女和儿童的健康风险。在冬季，我们使用生物质和液化石油气（LPG）作为烹饪能源，从家庭中收集室内地板灰尘样本，以评估上述灰尘样本的形态和化学特征。扫描电子显微镜-能谱（SEM-EDX）分析表明，生物质燃料家庭中存在碳质颗粒，而 LPG 燃料家庭中存在富含矿物质的地壳源。根据 ICP-OES 分析，除 Mn 和 Pb 外，不同燃料类型的 Al、Co、Cr、Fe、Zn 和 Ni 的平均浓度存在显著差异。从 Pearson 相关分析和主成分分析可以看出，生物质燃料家庭以 Zn、Al、Mn、Cr 和 Pb 为主，这可能是由生物质燃烧沉积物、地壳源和未铺路面贡献的，而 LPG 燃料家庭则以 Cr、Pb、Fe 和 Mn 为主，表明它们来自含铅涂料（Pb 和 Cr）和地壳源。我们使用 EPA 健康风险模型研究了这些重金属对妇女和儿童的健康风险。模型值表明，两种非致癌和致癌风险都在两个研究对象的安全范围内。本研究不仅确定了室内灰尘的化学和形态特征，还量化了燃料类型的作用。本研究提供了有关不同燃料（即生物质和 LPG 燃料）室内灰尘颗粒的化学和形态特征的最新地理证据，以及在印度特伦甘纳邦亚热带农村地区的相关健康风险评估。然而，需要从全国各地的不同地区进行更多的重金属分析和影响这些水平的因素的进一步研究。本研究的主要限制之一是仅在生活区域位置分析了少数金属和测量值。未来的研究可以包括土壤和道路灰尘，以及厨房和卧室，以提供对不同环境中灰尘成分的更全面分析。
