Characterization and health risk assessment of organophosphate esters in indoor dust from urban and rural domestic house and college dormitory in Nanjing, China

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 27; no. 29; pp. 36826 - 36837
• Main Authors: Li, Dong, Zhang, Qin, Chen, Jianqiu, Zhang, Shenghu, Song, Ninghui, Xu, Huaizhou, Guo, Ruixin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.10.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Carcinogens; Correlation analysis; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Dormitories; Dust; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Esters; Exposure; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Indoor air pollution; Indoor environments; Microenvironments; Organophosphates; Pollution effects; Principal components analysis; Research Article; Risk assessment; Rural areas; Rural housing; Urban areas; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; College dormitory; Organophosphate esters; Urban home; Rural home; Indoor dust; Health risk
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-09494-6

Indoor dust is an important route of exposure for organophosphate esters (OPEs), which are associated with adverse health effects. In the present study, the pollution occurrence and potential health risks of 13 OPEs in indoor dust from urban homes, college dormitories, and rural homes in Nanjing were investigated. Most OPEs were detected in the tested samples. College dormitories dust samples showed significantly higher OPEs concentrations (132.31–1.61 × 10 3 ng/g), followed by that in urban homes (31.42–49.84 ng/g) and rural homes (51.19–309.75 ng/g). The Mann-Whitney U test found no significant difference in the total concentrations of OPEs except for some individual OPEs between urban and rural homes. Tris (2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCPP) was the most abundant compound in all tested areas. Spearman correlation coefficients and principal component analysis indicated that OPEs might originate from different sources in three microenvironments. Estimated exposures for adults and children in all indoor dust were below the relevant reference doses. Additionally, TCPP was the primary contributors to the non-carcinogenic risk, ranging from 1.07 × 10 −6 to 2.20 × 10 −5 . Tris (2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate was the dominant carcinogenic risk contributor in indoor dust, with a range of 1.33 × 10 −11 to 8.74 × 10 −10 . These results suggested that the health risk of OPEs was within acceptable limits in the tested areas.