VOCs Fugitive Emission Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment from Typical Plywood Industry in the Yangtze River Delta Region, China

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions from the plywood manufacturing industry in China have received concerns during recent years. A total of 115 VOCs were measured in the adhesive-making, adhesive-coating, and hot-pressing workshops of the plywood manufacturing industry to investigate fugitiv...

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Main Authors: Kun Hu, Zhiqiang Liu, Ming Wang, Bingjie Zhang, Haotian Lin, Xingdong Lu, Wentai Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2021-11-01
Series:Atmosphere
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/11/1530
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author Kun Hu
Zhiqiang Liu
Ming Wang
Bingjie Zhang
Haotian Lin
Xingdong Lu
Wentai Chen
author_facet Kun Hu
Zhiqiang Liu
Ming Wang
Bingjie Zhang
Haotian Lin
Xingdong Lu
Wentai Chen
author_sort Kun Hu
collection DOAJ
description Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions from the plywood manufacturing industry in China have received concerns during recent years. A total of 115 VOCs were measured in the adhesive-making, adhesive-coating, and hot-pressing workshops of the plywood manufacturing industry to investigate fugitive emission characteristics of VOCs and assess their health risks to workers. The average concentration of total VOCs in workshops of the plywood manufacturing industry is 467 ± 359 μg/m<sup>3</sup>, whereas the value for ambient air is 81.4 μg/m<sup>3</sup>. For specific processes, the adhesive-coating and hot-pressing processes show higher VOCs concentrations (501 μg/m<sup>3</sup>–519 μg/m<sup>3</sup>) than the adhesive-making process (340 μg/m<sup>3</sup>). Formaldehyde, ethyl acetate, and dichloromethane are the three most abundant VOCs in workshops, with relative contributions to total VOCs of 55.9–63.1%, 4.3–11.0%, and 1.7–4.4%, respectively. For ozone formation potential (OFP) of VOCs, formaldehyde is the largest contributor (86.1%), followed by toluene, xylenes, and propanal. The non-cancer toxic risks (HI) and cancer risks of total VOCs (T-LCR) for three processes are calculated as 2.93–3.94 and 2.86–4.17 × 10<sup>−4</sup> using the US EPA recommended methods, both significantly higher than threshold values (1.0 for HI and 10<sup>−4</sup> for LCR), suggesting the highly toxic and cancer risks to workers. Formaldehyde contributes 68.1–78.2% and 91.4–93.9% of HI and T-LCR, respectively. The designed risk reduction scheme of VOCs based on air ventilation suggests that air ventilation rates of formaldehyde need to reach 4–5 times in 8 h in three processes to reduce T-LCR to 10<sup>−5</sup>. These results are useful for developing VOCs control measures and evaluating VOCs occupational health risk for workers in the plywood manufacturing industry.
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spelling doaj.art-1187a135d5ff4469aaaa84ac129ba3752023-11-22T22:25:48ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332021-11-011211153010.3390/atmos12111530VOCs Fugitive Emission Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment from Typical Plywood Industry in the Yangtze River Delta Region, ChinaKun Hu0Zhiqiang Liu1Ming Wang2Bingjie Zhang3Haotian Lin4Xingdong Lu5Wentai Chen6Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring and Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, ChinaSchool of Environment and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, ChinaCollaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring and Pollution Control, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 210044, ChinaJiangsu Changhuan Environment Technology Co., Ltd., Changzhou 213002, ChinaJiangsu Changhuan Environment Technology Co., Ltd., Changzhou 213002, ChinaNanjing Intelligent Environmental Science and Technology Co., Ltd., Nanjing 211800, ChinaNanjing Intelligent Environmental Science and Technology Co., Ltd., Nanjing 211800, ChinaVolatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions from the plywood manufacturing industry in China have received concerns during recent years. A total of 115 VOCs were measured in the adhesive-making, adhesive-coating, and hot-pressing workshops of the plywood manufacturing industry to investigate fugitive emission characteristics of VOCs and assess their health risks to workers. The average concentration of total VOCs in workshops of the plywood manufacturing industry is 467 ± 359 μg/m<sup>3</sup>, whereas the value for ambient air is 81.4 μg/m<sup>3</sup>. For specific processes, the adhesive-coating and hot-pressing processes show higher VOCs concentrations (501 μg/m<sup>3</sup>–519 μg/m<sup>3</sup>) than the adhesive-making process (340 μg/m<sup>3</sup>). Formaldehyde, ethyl acetate, and dichloromethane are the three most abundant VOCs in workshops, with relative contributions to total VOCs of 55.9–63.1%, 4.3–11.0%, and 1.7–4.4%, respectively. For ozone formation potential (OFP) of VOCs, formaldehyde is the largest contributor (86.1%), followed by toluene, xylenes, and propanal. The non-cancer toxic risks (HI) and cancer risks of total VOCs (T-LCR) for three processes are calculated as 2.93–3.94 and 2.86–4.17 × 10<sup>−4</sup> using the US EPA recommended methods, both significantly higher than threshold values (1.0 for HI and 10<sup>−4</sup> for LCR), suggesting the highly toxic and cancer risks to workers. Formaldehyde contributes 68.1–78.2% and 91.4–93.9% of HI and T-LCR, respectively. The designed risk reduction scheme of VOCs based on air ventilation suggests that air ventilation rates of formaldehyde need to reach 4–5 times in 8 h in three processes to reduce T-LCR to 10<sup>−5</sup>. These results are useful for developing VOCs control measures and evaluating VOCs occupational health risk for workers in the plywood manufacturing industry.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/11/1530volatile organic compoundsplywood industryemission characteristicshealth risk assessment
spellingShingle Kun Hu
Zhiqiang Liu
Ming Wang
Bingjie Zhang
Haotian Lin
Xingdong Lu
Wentai Chen
VOCs Fugitive Emission Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment from Typical Plywood Industry in the Yangtze River Delta Region, China
Atmosphere
volatile organic compounds
plywood industry
emission characteristics
health risk assessment
title VOCs Fugitive Emission Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment from Typical Plywood Industry in the Yangtze River Delta Region, China
title_full VOCs Fugitive Emission Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment from Typical Plywood Industry in the Yangtze River Delta Region, China
title_fullStr VOCs Fugitive Emission Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment from Typical Plywood Industry in the Yangtze River Delta Region, China
title_full_unstemmed VOCs Fugitive Emission Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment from Typical Plywood Industry in the Yangtze River Delta Region, China
title_short VOCs Fugitive Emission Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment from Typical Plywood Industry in the Yangtze River Delta Region, China
title_sort vocs fugitive emission characteristics and health risk assessment from typical plywood industry in the yangtze river delta region china
topic volatile organic compounds
plywood industry
emission characteristics
health risk assessment
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/11/1530
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