Determining source strength of semivolatile organic compounds using measured concentrations in indoor dust

Consumer products and building materials emit a number of semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in the indoor environment. Because indoor SVOCs accumulate in dust, we explore the use of dust to determine source strength and report here on analysis of dust samples collected in 30 US homes for six ph...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Indoor air 2014-06, Vol.24 (3), p.260-271
Main Authors: Shin, H.-M., McKone, T. E., Nishioka, M. G., Fallin, M. D., Croen, L. A., Hertz-Picciotto, I., Newschaffer, C. J., Bennett, D. H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air Pollution, Indoor - analysis
California
Child, Preschool
Dust
Dust - analysis
Emission rates
Emissions
Female
Flame retardants
Humans
Indoor air quality
Maryland
Modeling
Models, Chemical
Pennsylvania
Personal care products
Phthalates
Pregnancy
VOCs
Volatile organic compounds
Volatile Organic Compounds - analysis
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Summary:Consumer products and building materials emit a number of semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in the indoor environment. Because indoor SVOCs accumulate in dust, we explore the use of dust to determine source strength and report here on analysis of dust samples collected in 30 US homes for six phthalates, four personal care product ingredients, and five flame retardants. We then use a fugacity‐based indoor mass balance model to estimate the whole‐house emission rates of SVOCs that would account for the measured dust concentrations. Di‐2‐ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and di‐iso‐nonyl phthalate (DiNP) were the most abundant compounds in these dust samples. On the other hand, the estimated emission rate of diethyl phthalate is the largest among phthalates, although its dust concentration is over two orders of magnitude smaller than DEHP and DiNP. The magnitude of the estimated emission rate that corresponds to the measured dust concentration is found to be inversely correlated with the vapor pressure of the compound, indicating that dust concentrations alone cannot be used to determine which compounds have the greatest emission rates. The combined dust‐assay modeling approach shows promise for estimating indoor emission rates for SVOCs.
ISSN:0905-6947
1600-0668
DOI:10.1111/ina.12070