Indoor/outdoor pollution level and personal inhalation exposure of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons through biomass fuelled cooking

Abstract

Occurrence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in ambient air and personal inhaled air through biomass fuelled cooking activities were measured. Inhalation exposure risk was estimated using both personal and stationary samplers, and the relative contributions of inhalation and dietary exposures were investigated. Kitchen PAH concentrations increased significantly (about 5.5 times) during the cooking period. The cooker exposed much more PAHs, particularly gaseous ones in comparison with the non-cooker. In terms of total BaP equivalent (BaPeq) exposure, because of relatively high abundance of high-molecular-weight PAHs in cooked food, dietary exposure comprised over 90 % of total intake through food ingestion and inhalation. Personal inhalation exposure levels estimated directly from personal carried samplers were significantly higher than those calculated from stationary samplers. The latter may underestimate the BaPeq inhalation exposure by 31–65 %, indicating the preferable use of personal samplers in human exposure studies.