Inhalation Risk Assessment of PAH Exposure Due to Combustion Aerosols Generated from Household Fuels

Mahesh Tiwari,Sanjay Kumar Sahu,Gauri Girish Pandit

doi:10.4209/aaqr.2014.03.0061

Abstract

The typical mixtures of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are established as lung carcinogens, but their exposure and associated risk from different household fuels are less known. Five commonly used household fuels namely firewood, coal, dung cake, kerosene, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) were tested for their size-fractionated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) emission. A total of sixteen PAHs were analyzed in size fractionated combustion aerosols using HPLC-UV technique. Single box modeling approach is applied to estimate time average B[a]Peq concentration of PAHs in indoor air during cooking time. Incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) of PAH exposure during cooking time was calculated, which was found to have a positively skewed distribution for all types of fuels combustion. The uncertainty and variability of the predicted exposure risk were evaluated using Monte Carlo simulation. The 50 th percentile of risk due to exposure of PAHs emissions during household use of fuels were found to be 6.25 × 10 –5 , 2.99 × 10 –5 , 9.11 × 10 –5 , 1.14 × 10 –5 , and 3.84 × 10 –6 for firewood, coal, dung cake, kerosene and LPG stove, respectively. The 50 th percentile value of risk indicates the hazard associated with solid biomass combustion is higher than non-solid fuels; the risk associated with LPG stove use is found to be one order of magnitude less compared to other fuels.

Highlights

The indoor environment is an important determinant of health as humans typically spend 90% of their time indoors
The 50th percentile value of risk indicates the hazard associated with solid biomass combustion is higher than non-solid fuels; the risk associated with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stove use is found to be one order of magnitude less compared to other fuels
Coal, dung cake, kerosene and LPG mass percentages of particles having aerodynamic diameter < 11.2 μm of the total suspended particulate were found to be 76%, 86%, 91%, 84% and 79% respectively which indicates that a major part of smoke mass emitted from the all fuels burning is capable of getting into respiratory tract

Summary

Introduction

The indoor environment is an important determinant of health as humans typically spend 90% of their time indoors. Indoor air pollution attributed to solid fuel combustion products from heating and cooking is a major public health challenge mostly throughout the developing world. Solid fuel consists of coal and various forms of biomass, such as wood, crops, and dung. Biomass is most frequently utilized as domestic fuel in India and Africa, and coal fuel in China are typically used. The use of these fuels in poor and noventilation situations is worrisome as the attributed smoke has been associated with a variety of cancers, the most notable being lung cancer. Indoor emissions from household combustion of coal have been classified as a human carcinogen, whereas biomass combustion emissions have been classified as probably carcinogenic to humans (Hosgood and Lane, 2011; Kang et al, 2011; Chen et al, 2014)

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