Pollution Characteristics And Risk Assessment Of Heavy Metals And Organophosphate Flame Retardants In Indoor Dust From E-waste Dismantling Workshops

Heavy metals and organophosphate flame retardants(OPFRs)were the two most important environmental pollutants in e-waste.In recent decades,with the rapid development of scaled e-waste recycling industry in China,the indoor environmental pollution from formal e-waste dismantling activities has attracted great attention from researchers.In order to fully understand the contamination level,pollution characteristics and exposure risk of heavy metals and OPFRs in indoor dust from a formal e-waste dismantling plant,a formal e-waste dismantling plant in Shanghai was selected in this study.There were 4 types of dismantling and recycling workshops including manual dismantling workshop,cathode ray tubes(CRTs)recycling workshop,printed circuit boards(PCBs)recycling workshop and plastics recycling workshop.The contamination level,distribution characteristics,source analysis and human health risk assessment of heavy metals and OPFRs in indoor dust among various recycling workshops were investigated,as well as among various microenvironments including postgraduate offices,classrooms,and dormitories in a university and shopping malls.The research results not only fully and truly reflected the pollution status of heavy metals and OPFRs in the indoor environment,but also provided a scientific basis for indoor environmental governance and pollution source control.(1)In this study indoor dust from manual dismantling workshop,CRTs recycling workshop,PCBs recycling workshop and plastics recycling workshop was collected to study the spatial variation characteristics of heavy metals and OPFRs.The results showed that indoor dust from the 4 different types of dismantling and recycling workshops all had serious pollution of heavy metal and OPFRs.As for heavy metal pollution,CRTs recycling workshop was the most polluted workshop,followed by PCBs recycling workshop and manual dismantling workshop,while plastics recycling workshop was the last.Pb,Cu and Zn were the dominant heavy metals in e-waste dismantling and recycling workshop dust.As for OPFRs pollution,PCBs recycling workshop was the most polluted workshop,followed by manual dismantling workshop and CRTs recycling workshop,while plastics recycling workshop was the last.The congener profile of OPFRs in dust was similar among the 4 types of dismantling and recycling workshops.∑Aryl-OPFRs was the predominant OPFRs in e-waste dismantling and recycling workshop dust,of which TPHP was the predominant OPFRs.(2)In this study indoor dust from e-waste dismantling and recycling workshops,postgraduate offices,classrooms,and dormitories in a university and shopping malls was collected to study the spatial variation characteristics of heavy metals and OPFRs.The results showed that among the 5 different types of microenvironments,e-waste dismantling and recycling workshops were the most polluted microenvironment both for heavy metal and OPFRs.As for heavy metal pollution,Pb,Cu and Zn were the dominant heavy metals in ewaste dismantling and recycling workshop dust,while Zn,Ni,Cu,Pb and Cr were the dominant heavy metals in postgraduate offices,classrooms,and dormitories in a university and shopping malls.As for OPFRs pollution,∑Aryl-OPFRs was the predominant OPFRs in indoor dust form e-waste dismantling and recycling workshops,postgraduate offices and classrooms;∑ClOPFRs and ∑Aryl-OPFRs were the predominant OPFRs in dormitories;∑Alkyl-OPFRs was the predominant OPFRs in shopping malls.(3)Combined with the human exposure model recommended by the US EPA and the exposure parameters suitable for the Chinese population,health risk assessment of heavy metals and OPFRs was conducted in 4 types of e-waste dismantling and recycling workshops and 5types of microenvironments.The results showed that only heavy metals exposure due to ewaste dismantling activities may pose a certain carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risk to the dismantling workers.In particular,it was necessary to pay attention to manual dismantling workshop and CRTs recycling workshop.