Exposure to PCBs, through inhalation, dermal contact and dust ingestion at Taizhou, China - A major site for recycling transformers

Guan Hua Xing, Ying Liang, Ling Xuan Chen, Sheng Chun Wu, Ming Hung WONG*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

81 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Air samples containing gaseous and particulate phases were collected from e-waste workplaces and residential areas of an intensive e-waste recycling area and compared with a reference site. The highest total concentration of PCBs was detected at transformer recycling workshops (17.6ngm-3), followed by the residential area (3.37ngm-3) at Taizhou, and the lowest was obtained at the residential area of the reference site, Lin'an (0.46ngm-3). The same trend was also observed with regards to PCB levels in dust samples. The highest average PCBs level of 2824ngg-1 (dry wt) was found in the transformer recycling workshops, and was significantly higher than that of residential areas of Taizhou (572ngg-1 dry wt) and Lin'an (42.4ngg-1 dry wt). WHO-PCB-TEQ level in the workshops of Taizhou was 2216pg TEQ1998g-1 dry wt or 2159pg TEQ2005g-1 dry wt, due to the high abundance of PCB 126 (21.5ngg-1 dry wt), which contributed 97% or 99% of WHO-PCB-TEQs. The estimated intake of PCBs via dust ingestion and dermal absorption by transformer recycling workers were 77.5×10-5 and 36.0×10-5 pg WHO-PCB-TEQ1998kg-1d-1, and 67.3×10-5 and 31.3×10-5 pg WHO-PCB-TEQ2005kg-1d-1, respectively.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)605-611
Number of pages7
JournalChemosphere
Volume83
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2011

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Environmental Engineering
  • Environmental Chemistry
  • Chemistry(all)
  • Pollution
  • Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

User-Defined Keywords

  • Capacitors
  • Electronic waste recycling
  • Exposure pathways
  • Transformers

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