Spatiotemporal Profiles Of Atmospheric SVOCs In E-waste Dismantling Area And The Associated Human Health Risk Assessment

The global growth in electrical and electronic equipment production and consumption has been exponential.This is largely due to increasing market penetration of products in developing countries,development of a replacement market in developed countries and a generally high product obsolescence rate,together with a decrease in prices and the growth in internet use.Today,electrical and electronic waste?e-waste?is the fastest growing waste stream.E-waste has high recovery potential,due to it contains significant amounts of valuable metals and materials.This provides an opportunity for post-consumption economic activity with respect to e-waste.However,recycling activities can also gradually increase stress on the environment as hazardous substances are released during recycling activities.This can adversely impact the eco-system and human beings.Moreover,the persistent organic pollutants?POPs?in exhaust gas may cause a wider range of air pollution due to long-distance migration.Therefore,e-waste recycling has attracted intensive attention in recent years.In the present study,spatio-temporal variation and specific source of semi-volatile organic pollutants?SVOCs?including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons?PAHs?,nitro polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons?NPAHs?,hydroxy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons?OHPAHs?,polybrominated diphenyl ethers?PBDEs?and polychlorinated biphenyls?PCBs?were analyzed in the e-waste circular economy industrial park and its surrounding areas.The main objectives were to understand a spatiotemporal profile of SVOCs and the associated human health risk considering bioaccessibility in human lung.To assess effects of SVOCs on local air quality,the samples of total suspended particulates?TSP?,PM_10,PM_2.5 as well as gaseous phase were collected in a typical e-waste industrial park and its surrounding areas in south China during four seasons of 2015 and autumn of 2016 and 2017.The concentrations of TSP,PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 were measured as 84.8–414,70.7–302 and 57.1–204?g m^–3 in this area,respectively;three kinds corresponding particulate bound-PAHs as well as gaseous phase PAHs were 2.6–16.1,2.2–15.1,1.9–14.6 and20.1–72.8 ng m^–3,respectively;the corresponding concentrations of NPAHs were 10.3–243,10.2–221,9.9–171 and 7.9–118 pg m^–3,respectively;the corresponding concentrations of OHPAHs were 3.4–516,2.8–468,1.6–418 and 8.9–172 pg m^–3,respectively;the corresponding concentrations of PBDEs were 0.4–120,0.4–93.7,0.3–79.1 and 4.4–197 ng m^–3,respectively;the corresponding concentrations of PCBs were 0.09–2.88,0.06–2.68,0.03–2.44 and 0.34–3.79 ng m^–3,respectively.The pollutant levels in spring and winter were higher than those in summer and autumn,except for PCBs,which in summer and autumn were higher than those in spring and winter.The sources of PAHs and NPAHs were identified by Diagnostic ratio approaches and Principal component analysis?PCA?,e-waste dismantling processes was identified as the major pollution source of PAHs and NPAHs within this area.Among sampling sites,the pollutant levels and health risk of EP site were found to be highest,which could cause cancer risk and noncancer risk to human although only bioaccessible SVOCs in human lung were considered.Especially,infants suffered higher human health risk than adults.This study provides the empirical evidence for spatiotemporal profiles of PM-bound and gaseous SVOCs in e-waste dismantling area and will serve as the basis for air quality monitoring and management by local government.