Underestimated contribution of fugitive emission to VOCs in pharmaceutical industry based on pollution characteristics, odorous activity and health risk assessment.
J Environ Sci (China)
; 126: 722-733, 2023 Apr.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36503797
ABSTRACT
Fugitive emission has been becoming an important source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in pharmaceutical industry, but the exact contribution of fugitive emission remains incompletely understood. In present study, pollution characteristics, odorous activity and health risk of stack and fugitive emissions of VOCs from four functional units (e.g., workshop, sewage treatment station, raw material storage and hazardous waste storage) of three representative pharmaceutical factories were investigated. Workshop was the dominant contributor to VOCs of fugitive emission in comparison with other functional units. Extreme high concentration of VOCs from fugitive emission in unsealed workshop (94.87 mg/m3) was observed relative to sealed one (1.18 mg/m3), accounting for 31% and 5% of total VOCs, respectively. Fugitive emission of VOCs in the unsealed workshop mainly consisted of n-hexane, 1-hexene and dichloromethane. Odorous activity indexes and non-cancer hazard ratios of these VOCs from fugitive emission in the unsealed workshop were as high as that from stack exhaust. Furthermore, cancer risk of dichloromethane from fugitive emission and stack exhaust was up to (1.6-1.8) × 10-5. Odorous activity or health risk index of the VOCs from fugitive emission was up to 13 or 11 times of the corresponding threshold value, posing remarkable health threat on pharmaceutical workers. Our findings highlighted the possibly underestimated contribution of fugitive emission on VOCs in the pharmaceutical industry.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Compostos Orgânicos Voláteis
Tipo de estudo:
Etiology_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Environ Sci (China)
Assunto da revista:
SAUDE AMBIENTAL
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article