Comparison of indoor and outdoor atmospheric organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) from the petrochemical industrial area in North China: Occurrence, gas-PM distribution, source appointment and health implications.

The consumption of organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) has surged significantly recent years since global banning of brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Industrial activity is an important source of OPFRs, however there are few studies on OPFRs contamination in the indoor and outdoor atmosphere of industrial areas. A study was conducted to analyze contamination of 15 OPFRs individuals in both indoor and outdoor air and PM of living and industrial sites of the petrochemical industrial area (outdoor and indoor sites of living area was LO and LI, outdoor and indoor sites of industrial area was IO and II). The average concentrations of OPFRs in PM of LO (16.40 ng/m) and IO (17.83 ng/m) were similar, while LI (60.46 ng/m) was higher than that in II (33.43 ng/m). The average concentrations of indoor OPFR in PM and air in summer were 4.10 and 2.22 times higher than those in winter, respectively. This seasonal concentration variation of OPFRs may attribute to the influence of temperature that accelerated the releasing of OPFRs from materials. Source apportionment results indicated that the indoor source (material emission) was the dominant contributor of indoor OPFRs in PM and air, and outdoor sources (industrial and traffic sources) had significant contribution to OPFRs in indoor and outdoor air and outdoor PM. The gas-particle partitioning of OPFRs had not reached equilibrium state. The K absorption model has better fitting effect for OPFRs with logK > 10. The health risk of OPFRs for both adult and child was neglectable. While considering the high contribution of TCEP to carcinogenic risk, and high contribution of TCPP to none-carcinogenic risk, their health risk should be given special attention.