Occurrence and Health Risk of 895 Semi-volatile Organic Compounds in Dust from Bedroom.

People spend about one third of life time on sleeping, and exposure to semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs) in bedroom during the sleep may cause adverse health effects in humans. Dust is an important sink of indoor SVOCs, while levels of the SVOCs and corresponding health risks in the indoor dust are still unclear. Therefore, a comprehensive screening of the SVOCs is necessary to identify the dominant pollutants in indoor environment. In this study, settled dust samples were collected in bedrooms from 19 Chinese homes to investigate the occurrence, potential sources and health risks of the indoor SVOCs. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used for high-throughput screening of 895 SVOCs in the indoor dust samples. Based on the health risk assessment method proposed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the health risks of the SVOCs with detection frequencies >10% to infants and adults were assessed, considering ingestion, inhalation and dermal absorption from dust. A total of 85 SVOCs were detected in the indoor dust samples, including 20 n-alkanes, 12 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, 6 phthalates, 8 organophosphate esters, 7 alcohols, 6 substituted benzenes, 9 phenols, 9 pesticides, 4 esters, 2 fatty acids and 2 others, with the total concentrations ranging from 92 xgxg-1 to 1.4x103 xgxg-1 (median value: 4.3x102 μg·g-1 ). Among the 85 SVOCs, the phthalates were found to be the most abundant SVOCs in the dust, with the mean contribution of (40.9 ±11.7)% to the total SVOCs concentrations. Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) was the predominant phthalate, accounting for (63.1±14.5)% of the total phthalate concentrations. The results of the health risk assessment indicated that the hazard index (HI) of SVOCs in the dust were negligible for adults. However, 4 SVOCs, including styrenated phenol (HI =7.2x10-2 ), DEHP (HI =3.8x10-2 ), myristic acid (HI = 2.2x10-2 ) and stearyl alcohol (HI =1.1x10-2 ), were found to pose low non-carcinogenic risks to infants via dust ingestion. In addition, the carcinogenic risks (CR) of fluoranthene (3.7 x10-6 ) and pyrene (2.8 x10-6 ) were found to exceed the acceptable risk level of 10-6 . The present study clarified the current pollution status of the SVOCs in indoor dust based on high-throughput screening method, and provided basic data for prevention and management of SVOCs risk in the indoor environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]