Ambient BTEX Exposure and Health Risks at Gorakhpur, India : Inhalation Exposure & Health Risks of Ambient BTEX at different Microenvironments of a Terai Zone in North India

ISBN-13: 9783659772719 / Angielski

Amit Masih

Opis

In a study of ambient air at Gorakhpur, India, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene levels were 15.9, 28.2, 3.9 and 2.8 µg/m3 respectively. Highest BTEX exposure was in industrial and lowest in residential area. Toluene and Benzene represent about 96%, 92%, 83% and 91% of total BTEX at residential, agricultural, roadside & industrial areas respectively. Concentrations of BTEX in winter, summer and monsoon dominated in industrial area i.e. 74.7, 69.3 and 61.9 µg/m3 respectively, whereas lowest were in residential area i.e. 36.6, 24.6 and 22.1 µg/m3 respectively. Benzene levels everywhere and ethylbenzene at roadside exceeded the acceptable risk of 1E-06, posing significant cancer risk. However, HQ of non-cancer risk was equal or lower than 1 indicating no concern of increased health risk. Moreover, monitoring of BTEX was also performed at two roadside locations specifically as auto vehicles are the major cause for BTEX. The t-BTEX was 27.4 µg m-3 with median 22.2 µg m-3. Mean average of BTEX were 36.6, 31.2, 22.6 and 16.5 µg m-3 at 3m, 10m, 20m, and 30m respectively. Higher levels of BTEX were observed on weekdays as compared to the respective levels on weekends/holidays.

O autorze

Masih, Amit
Lt. Dr. Amit Masih is an Asst. Prof. in the Dept. of Chemistry, St. Andrew's College, Gorakhpur, UP, India. He did his PhD in Chemistry (Environment) in 2007. His research interest lies in Monitoring & Health Risk Assessment of POPs, VOCs and other Toxicological Pollutants. He has visited reputed research organizations like USEPA (US) & RSC (UK).