Exposure Profiles and Health Risks of Indoor VOCs at Gorakhpur, India. Exposure profiles, seasonal variation and health risk assessment of BTEX in indoor air of homes at Gorakhpur, India

      Аннотация: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are an important class of air pollutants and even at a trace amounts they have high potential hazard due to their carcinogenic nature. Benzene, Toulene, Ethylbenzene and Xylene (BTEX) are the consistently found air contaminants in indoor and outdoor environments. These are reported to be toxic and are known for their ability to deteriorate human health. Thus, an investigation of indoor/outdoor BTEX was conducted for the span of one year at selected locations in Gorakhpur in order to ascertain the contamination levels. The concentration levels of BTEX was highest at agricultural followed by industrial, roadside. The lowest levels were found at residential site. Toluene levels were higher than benzene at all the sites except agricultural site, where benzene concentration exceeded toluene. Seasonal variation showed highest BTEX concentration during winters followed by monsoon and summers. At all the sites, the indoor TVOC levels were found higher than that at outdoors. For benzene, the ILTCR values exceeded the safe levels whereas ethylbenzene was nearby to the recommended level 1x10-6. Cumulative hazard index was lower than 1.0 at all the sites.

Ключевые слова: VOCs, BTEX, Health Risks, Indoor Air, Exposure Profiles