Abstract
Level of benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, m,p-xylene and o-xylene (BTEXs) was measured in several indoor and outdoor air samples. Five indoor air samples were from motor vehicle workshops and three samples were from gasoline filling stations and the rest were ambient air samples. They were collected using a 1L Tedlar® bag. BTEX analysis was performed with Thermal Desorption (TD) - Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometer (GCMS). The concentration of ?BTEXs in indoor (ID1 to ID5) were 864.29, 115.32, 655.79, 72.99, 96.05 μg/m3 respectively. ?BTEXs in outdoor (OD1 to OD6) samples were, 367.45, 85.12, 50.29, 159.94, 46.02, 68.57 μg/m3 respectively. Calculated LADD value in indoor and outdoor air samples ranged in the scale of 0.27–3.42 and 0.16–1.88 μg/kg/d respectively. Concentrations of all indoor and outdoor samples surpassed the cancer risk (CR) limit for benzene but were below HQ (<1) for non-cancer risk impact. In conclusion, areas within petroleum stations and motor vehicles workshops may pose hazardous cancer risk and non-cancer risk through BTEXs exposure to workers and non-workers.
Highlights
BTEX refers to Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl benzene and three isomers of Xylene and they are referred by World Health Organization (WHO) as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) [1]
The human exposure to benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes were from inhalation of contaminated air either from naturally-occurring compounds in crude oil or from primary man-made sources into the environment such as through emissions from motor vehicles, aircraft exhaust, fuel filling stations and cigarette smoke [6]
The highest BTEXs concentration for indoor air was found in ID1 (864.29 μg/m3), followed by ID3 (655.79 μg/m3), ID2 (115.32 μg/m3), ID5 (96.05 μg/m3) respectively and the lowest was in ID4 (72.99 μg/m3)
Summary
BTEX refers to Benzene, Toluene, Ethyl benzene and three isomers of Xylene and they are referred by World Health Organization (WHO) as hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) [1]. WHO [3] classified benzene as carcinogenic to humans, though no safe level of exposure is recommended yet. Toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes are classified as potential carcinogens to humans [5]. The human exposure to benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylenes were from inhalation of contaminated air either from naturally-occurring compounds in crude oil or from primary man-made sources into the environment such as through emissions from motor vehicles, aircraft exhaust, fuel filling stations and cigarette smoke [6]. Increasing number of vehicles especially in urban area increase human exposure to BTEXs. many sources of BTEXs such as fuel stations and workshops are located in urban area
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