Health risk assessment for exposure to benzene in petroleum refinery environments.

Benjamin Edokpolo,Des Connell,Qiming Jimmy Yu

doi:10.3390/ijerph120100595

Benjamin Edokpolo, Des Connell + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph120100595

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Abstract

The health risk resulting from benzene exposure in petroleum refineries was calculated using data from the scientific literature from various countries throughout the world. The exposure data was collated into four scenarios from petroleum refinery environments and plotted as cumulative probability distributions (CPD) plots. Health risk was evaluated for each scenario using the Hazard Quotient (HQ) at 50% (CEXP50) and 95% (CEXP95) exposure levels. Benzene levels were estimated to pose a significant risk with HQ50 > 1 and HQ95 > 1 for workers exposed to benzene as base estimates for petroleum refinery workers (Scenario 1), petroleum refinery workers evaluated with personal samplers in Bulgarian refineries (Scenario 2B) and evaluated using air inside petroleum refineries in Bulgarian refineries (Scenario 3B). HQ50 < 1 were calculated for petroleum refinery workers with personal samplers in Italian refineries (Scenario 2A), air inside petroleum refineries (Scenario 3A) and air outside petroleum refineries (Scenario 4) in India and Taiwan indicating little possible adverse health effects. Also, HQ95 was < 1 for Scenario 4 however potential risk was evaluated for Scenarios 2A and 3A with HQ95 > 1. The excess Cancer risk (CR) for lifetime exposure to benzene for all the scenarios was evaluated using the Slope Factor and Overall Risk Probability (ORP) methods. The result suggests a potential cancer risk for exposure to benzene in all the scenarios. However, there is a higher cancer risk at 95% (CEXP95) for petroleum refinery workers (2B) with a CR of 48,000 per 106 and exposure to benzene in air inside petroleum refineries (3B) with a CR of 28,000 per 106.

Highlights

Petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants are major sources of Volatile Aromatic Hydrocarbons (VAHs) in the environment [1]
At CEXP50, exposure to benzene was higher than NIOSH REL but lower than ACIGH Threshold Limit Values (TLV), OSHA Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL), EC Limit Value (LV) and Safe Work Australia (SWA) Occupational exposure limits (OELs)
At CEXP95 exposure to benzene was higher than NIOSH REL, ACIGH TLV, OSHA PEL, EC LV and SWA OEL

Summary

Introduction

Petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants are major sources of Volatile Aromatic Hydrocarbons (VAHs) in the environment [1]. Has been widely used as a solvent in industries such as printing and the manufacture of shoes [3] It is a confirmed human carcinogen [4] and epidemiological studies have shown it causes the occurrence of acute and chronic leukemia, even at low concentrations [5]. Workers in petroleum refineries, including those involved in loading and transportation of petroleum products, may have some level of exposure to benzene [10]. Scenario 1—Exposure to Benzene as Base Estimate Concentrations for Petroleum Refinery Workers. This scenario represents benzene concentrations collected as base estimate concentrations for retrospective benzene exposures in petroleum industries from studies using similar methods in deriving the base estimates from benzene measurements. The data sets used in this Scenario were obtained from [19,20,21]

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