School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Shandong Jianzhu University, Jinan, 250101, Shandong, China.
Clear Science and Technology Company Limited, Jinan, 100029, Beijing, China.
Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 24;11(1):6749. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-85053-4.
Dust can be regarded as environmental medium that indicates the level and spatial distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) coming from different pollution sources. In this study, samples including road dust, roof dust, and bare soil near an iron and steel enterprise (ISE) in Laiwu city of North China were collected. To assess the environment impact, atmosphere particulates and one flue dust from a coking plant were simultaneously sampled. Sixteen USEPA PAHs were detected quantitatively by Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). A laser particle size analyzer was used to obtain the grain size of the dust particle samples. The results showed that PAH concentrations displayed great variability in the dust samples. The ∑PAHs concentration was found to be between 0.460 and 46.970 μg/g (avg ± sd 10.892 ± 1.185 μg/g) in road dust, between 0.670 and 17.140 μg/g (avg ± sd 6.751 ± 0.692 μg/g) in roof dust, and 13.990 ± 1.203 μg/g in bare soil. In the environment atmosphere sites, the ∑ PAHs value in PM constituted a very large proportion of PM, indicating that PAHs in finer particle sizes should be given greater emphasis. The ∑PAHs concentration was relatively high in the area close to the ISE because of the great impact of the ISE industrial activities. PAH concentration curves were similar, and the most abundant individual PAHs in the atmosphere sites were BbF, BkF, and Flu, and BbF, BkF, and Chry in dusts. Toxicity analysis revealed that PAHs with four rings, including carcinogenic PAHs, were the dominant pollutants in the studied area. The toxic equivalency value (TEQ), the carcinogenic health risk assessment value recommended by the US EPA, was calculated for seven carcinogenic PAHs, revealing that they account for more than 93.0% of the total TEQ of the 16 PAHs and indicating the major toxic equivalent concentration contributor. Incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) estimation results showed that PAHs tended to bring about great health risks through skin contact, followed by ingestion and inhalation. By comparison, road dust exhibited greater carcinogenic risks than roof dust, and bare soil may undergo heavier pollution. Therefore, the results of this study would be helpful in the effort to understand the PAHs pollution from the steel industry, which will provide some guidance for the probabilistic assessment of local health risks.
灰尘可以被视为环境介质，指示来自不同污染源的多环芳烃（PAHs）的水平和空间分布。本研究采集了中国华北莱芜市一家钢铁企业（ISE）附近的道路灰尘、屋顶灰尘和裸土样本。为了评估环境影响，同时采集了大气颗粒物和焦化厂的一个烟道灰尘样本。采用气相色谱质谱联用仪（GC-MS）对 16 种美国环保署 PAHs 进行了定量检测。激光粒度分析仪用于获取灰尘颗粒样品的粒度。结果表明，灰尘样品中的 PAH 浓度存在很大的可变性。在道路灰尘中，∑PAHs 浓度在 0.460 和 46.970μg/g（平均±标准差 10.892±1.185μg/g）之间，在屋顶灰尘中，∑PAHs 浓度在 0.670 和 17.140μg/g（平均±标准差 6.751±0.692μg/g）之间，在裸土中为 13.990±1.203μg/g。在环境大气场所，PM 中∑PAHs 值构成了 PM 的很大比例，表明应更加重视细颗粒尺寸中的 PAHs。由于 ISE 工业活动的巨大影响，ISE 附近区域的∑PAHs 浓度相对较高。大气场所的∑PAHs 浓度曲线相似，大气和灰尘中最丰富的个体 PAHs 为 BbF、BkF 和 Flu，以及 BbF、BkF 和 Chry。毒性分析表明，四环致癌 PAHs 是研究区域的主要污染物。根据美国环保署的建议，计算了七种致癌 PAHs 的毒性等效值（TEQ），表明它们占 16 种 PAHs 总 TEQ 的 93.0%以上，是主要的毒性等效浓度贡献者。增量终生癌症风险（ILCR）估计结果表明，PAHs 更倾向于通过皮肤接触、其次是摄入和吸入带来较大的健康风险。相比之下，道路灰尘的致癌风险大于屋顶灰尘，而裸土可能受到更严重的污染。因此，本研究结果将有助于了解钢铁工业的 PAHs 污染，为当地健康风险的概率评估提供一些指导。
